{"id":1804,"date":"2016-08-02T18:43:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T18:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/fix-long-beach-rolls-back-in-free-spay-neuter-clinic-returns-after-hiatus\/"},"modified":"2016-08-02T18:43:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T18:43:12","slug":"fix-long-beach-rolls-back-in-free-spay-neuter-clinic-returns-after-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/fix-long-beach-rolls-back-in-free-spay-neuter-clinic-returns-after-hiatus","title":{"rendered":"Fix Long Beach Rolls Back In! Free Spay\/Neuter Clinic Returns After Hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Fix<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

All photos and graphics courtesy of Fix Long Beach<\/strong>
<\/em><\/p>\n

After a two-month break, grassroots organization Fix Long Beach<\/a> \u00a0will return on Sunday, August 21, to provide free spay\/neuter procedures for the dogs and cats of the city\u2019s residents who couldn\u2019t otherwise afford the procedure.<\/p>\n

Fix Long Beach was founded by Claudia Hoffmann when she\u2019d seen enough dogs running in the streets, most of them unaltered. This, combined with the resulting shelter overcrowding, which led to euthanasia when rescue resources were exhausted, gave her the idea of providing spay\/neuter procedures to Long Beach residents who couldn\u2019t afford the procedures or who weren\u2019t educated about why they\u2019re necessary. She took her concept to Eldad Hagar, head of the LA-based nonprofit rescue Hope for Paws<\/a>.\u00a0Hagar and his volunteer staff rescue dogs from the street, documenting each episode from locating the dog to the rescue and adoption. The heartrending but ultimately joyful videos can be seen on the Hope for Paws website. (Sharing links to the videos on Facebook and other social media helps fund Hope for Paws and, in turn, efforts like Fix Long Beach.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to attack animal overpopulation at its roots,\u201d Hoffmann said. \u201cWe want to get many more people involved\u2014come out with programs like this all over SoCal and the U.S. I hope people will wake up and see what\u2019s needed\u2014report abuse, fix their pets, and do something so that these types of programs won\u2019t be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hagar readily agreed to fund Hoffmann\u2019s project. Armed with fliers and a group of equally enthusiastic volunteers, she canvassed residents of target areas in Long Beach. The first mobile clinic was held in June, 2013 at Orizaba Park; 28 pets were fixed.<\/p>\n

\"Julie<\/p>\n

Since then, Fix Long Beach has spayed and neutered over 5,000 cats and dogs at their mobile clinics and provided countless vouchers for free procedures to residents who couldn\u2019t get an appointment. The events also provide free microchips for cities served by Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS),<\/a> which include Long Beach, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill; and $10 vaccines and flea meds to any pet who comes with a human.<\/p>\n

Organizations such as Friends of Long Beach Animals<\/a>\u00a0and Justin Rudd\u2019s Community Action Team<\/a>\u00a0have added to the clinic sponsorship, and the Second and Third council districts sponsored a clinic held at the beach area below Bixby Park in April. Fix Long Beach also received ACS\u2019s One Too Many award in 2015 for their work in lowering shelter overpopulation and euthanasia. ACS manager Ted Stevens attributed the steady three-year drop in euthanasia\u201467 percent for both cats and dogs since this month in 2013\u2014to Fix Long Beach\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

Tireless? Not the Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n

The phrase tireless volunteer <\/i>could be classified as an oxymoron. Scheduling appointments, planning, setting up at 6:00AM and breaking down at around 4:00AM, fund-raising, running interference for everything imaginable\u2014volunteering for this event is exhausting. Even with appreciation and honors, volunteers, especially committed ones, get very, very tired. The Fix Long Beach group thus took a break to breathe and regroup after the May clinic, and much to the delight of people on the waiting list, they\u2019re back and ready to roll.<\/p>\n

\"Ozzie<\/p>\n

Calls have begun for scheduling appointments for the August 21 clinic, to be held at Houghton Park, 6500 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, near Jordan High. This particular clinic is for dogs whose owners live in Long Beach and who qualify for the procedures, but any qualifying Long Beach resident may come in person to receive a voucher for a free procedure for either cats or dogs. Follow this link http:\/\/fixlongbeach.com\/<\/a> for information and appointments.\u00a0Fix Long Beach\u2019s volunteer staff asks all applicants for appointments for their patience; as imagined, they still have hundreds of requests to go through.<\/p>\n

Eldad Hagar has committed to fund the clinics until the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil then, we will continue to help decrease the shelter impound & euthanasia numbers,\u201d Fix Long Beach\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0reads.<\/p>\n

\"Lady<\/p>\n

Visit this link<\/a>\u00a0to donate to Fix Long Beach. Fix Long Beach also has\u00a0an Amazon Wish List\u00a0<\/a>that can be accessed through the link.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mission is to rescue. My dream is that one day I won’t have to.\u201d
<\/i><\/strong>~ Tia Maria Torres, founder of the Villalobos Rescue Center<\/a><\/i><\/strong>\u00a0for pit bulls in Agua Dulce, California<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a two-month break, grassroots organization\u00a0Fix Long Beach<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0will return on Sunday, August 21, to provide free spay\/neuter procedures for the dogs and cats of the city\u2019s residents who couldn\u2019t otherwise afford the procedure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":67183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[470],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","tag-fix-long-beach","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}