Chances are, you’ve seen heart-wrenching television commercials of mistreated and malnourished cats and dogs that need to be rescued. While Ernie Hester believes getting those animals the help they need is important, he wants to do more. Hester wants to help prevent animal neglect, and he believes one way to do this is to curb overpopulation.
That’s why he has made a planned estate gift through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham that will be dedicated to efforts ensuring more companion animals are spayed and neutered.
“Most people, at least in this country, have choices about aspects of their life, but the animals we value as pets don’t,” Hester said. “They depend on us to provide a home and care for them. That includes governance on procreation. We need to try to control or even eliminate the number of dogs and cats that are euthanized, or worse, left to starve or die in other cruel ways.”
Even folks who don’t consider themselves animal lovers should care about this issue.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, stray animals can easily become a public nuisance, soiling parks and streets, ruining shrubbery, frightening children and elderly people, creating noise and other disturbances, causing automobile accidents, and sometimes even killing livestock or other pets. Furthermore, the capture, impoundment, and eventual destruction of unwanted animals costs taxpayers and private humanitarian agencies over a billion dollars each year. And as a potential source of rabies and other less serious diseases, they can be a public health hazard too.
“My fund is directed to, first, educate the public on the importance of spaying and neutering pets and, second, providing help in doing so,” Hester explained.
His fund at the Community Foundation will help support the work of organizations like Alabama Spay and Neuter, which provides a range of services to help reduce companion animal overpopulation, including its Trap-Neuter-Release program aimed at curbing the number of homeless cats in local communities.
This isn’t just an issue for stray cats and dogs. According to Alabama Spay and Neuter, having your beloved pet spayed or neutered can increase your pet’s chance at a healthy and long life. It can reduce the animal’s desire to roam, therefore reducing the chances of your pet contracting diseases or being hurt while away from home. For example, surveys indicate that as many as 85% of dogs hit by cars are unaltered.
Hester wishes he owned five acres of land so he could take in a horde of cats and dogs in need of homes. Since he can’t, he’ll do his part by helping to get out the message on the importance of getting animals spayed and neutered.
“I’ve had a dog or cat most of my life and know the unqualified love they can give and the wonderful companionship they provide,” said Hester, who currently has one beloved cat named Bootsy. “I’d like to try and pay that back by ensuring that the pets that come into this world are ones that are not accidents or throw-aways or strays destined for a short, miserable life, spawning more of the same, but ones that have someone that will appreciate and care for them.”
Learn more about leaving a legacy at Give Tomorrow or contact George Gaskin, Senior Director of Gift Planning and Compliance, at ggaskin@cfbham.org.