Chilton County Humane Society director Paula Mattingly is tired of seeing so many stray cats and dogs die in shelters.

Every day, 70,000 are dropped off at shelters across the nation. Of those, 40,000 are euthanized.

To help control the pet population in Chilton County, Mattingly wants to implement a spay and neuter program next month to allow residents especially those with lower income to have their pets fixed.

“Having your pet spayed or neutered is one of the most important things to controlling the pet population, but some folks just can’t afford it,” Mattingly said.

Mattingly will be working with a veterinarian to provide to the service to residents in the county. While the pet is being spayed or neutered, the pet will also be tattooed that will have contact information just in case the pet is lost. This tattoo will be at no extra cost.

This project is one of the main goals that Mattingly wants to achieve this year at the humane society. Other goals include replacing the ventilation system, create a new cat area and place areas outside to separate the dogs.

Mattingly said their ventilation system is old and needs to be replaced. This should help reduce disease and smell in the building.

In the cat and dog areas, she wants to separate the sick animals from the healthy ones.

Outside, she wants to separate the dogs’ play area into three sections – one for females, another for males and one for strays. Mattingly said they have to keep stray dogs for seven days before they can be adopted. A separate kennel for strays allows them to keep the adoptable dogs separated from the ones they must hold.

For more information on the humane society, call 755-9170.