Tragically, thousands of cats are euthanized in Maine shelters because not enough adopters are stepping forward. Maine also has a large feral cat population, which produces thousands of kittens each year. Help Fix ME provided 1,773 spay/neuter surgeries in the first eight months of 2010. Cat sterilizations accounted for 71 percent of those surgeries.

In response to Clayton Weeks’ letter of Nov. 16, the HFM program is funded by a surcharge on pet food registration, not dog license fees. Those fees pay for investigations into cases of animal cruelty and for town animal control officers.

While pet food companies do pay a small surcharge when they register pet food in the state, if they pass that cost on to consumers, and we conservatively estimate that half of Maine households buy pet food, it equals roughly 49 cents per pet-owning household each year.

Dogs being transferred from the South, to Maine shelters with available kennel space, is an entirely separate issue that has no bearing on the Help Fix ME program.  All shelters in Maine are required to spay and neuter their animals prior to adoption.

Katie Lisnik, Portland

Maine state director, The Humane Society of the United States