Denver, Colorado–If people won’t take their animals to a veterinary clinic for spaying or neutering, Jeff Young takes the Planned Pethood Plus clinic to the animals. Working out of a bus, in cooperation with local humane societies and activist groups, veterinarians Young and business partner Mark Chamberlain set out to alter 6,000 animals during 1992; surpassing 5,000 in mid-November, they were right on pace, Young said. The humane organization publicize Young’s arrival in each community and get the paperwork done in advance. This enables him to go right to work, performing as man as 32 surgeries per day, at average fees of $15/tomcat, $20/queen, $25/male dog, and $35/female dog.
While Young is on the road, Chamberlain operates at a similar pace and for comparable prices from their full service clinic in Denver. Despite the low rates, they manage to make a living –”and we make a profit,” Young emphasizes.
Operating conditions are not always ideal, Young admits, but most of the animals would otherwise… veterinary
clinics, Young and Chamberlain perform a high percentage of early spay/neuters; it’s a matter of altering when opportunity permits or possibly never. They also do discount vaccination.
“We take a lot of flak,” Young says, “but we believe extending care to animals who otherwise won’t get it is part of being an ethical practice,”
Some of the Planned Pethood Plus profits help fund the activities of the nonprofit animal protection group Speak Out for Animals, coordinated by Erin Russell. Young credits Russel with inspiring his work.
“I was raised as a hunter and trapper, in a hunting and trapping family,” he explains. “And I did vivisection in veterinary school. I wasn’t taught to be in touch with my compassionate feelings, so for me it was a cerebral thing at first. I was a professional person, doing a job. Erin made me think about my work in a different way. Then I was able to acknowledge what I’d probably always felt, intuitively, and change my approach to the work to reflect that.”
