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PARK CITY — There are remote parts of our state that have very little access to pet care. For many who live on reservations, the only option is to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles for services.
Non-profit group Nuzzles & Co. out of Park City has made it their mission to make the trek with their supplies and trained veterinarians to these areas, bringing services to those who need it.
In January, the group made their first ever trip to the Ute reservation in Duchesne County. The reservation is about four million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts, which is served by just one animal control officer.
Darrell McCurtain, a Nuzzles & Co. employee, said there are hundreds of thousands of homeless pets roaming Utah's reservations.
“There are very little resources on reservations themselves," he said. "[The Ute] Reservation in particular has no animal control facility like you might find in a regular city.”
The non-profit set up a makeshift clinic and started offering free spay and neuter procedures funded by donations. They took care of cats and dogs of every age and every breed.
Reservation resident Sonja Willie said her dog Blue was one of the lucky ones.
“Blue is a stray that someone dropped off in Fort Duchesne and I adopted him,” she said.
Willie grew up in the area and has seen changes over the years. She believed by bringing Blue in, it would help combat the issue.
“I just didn't want to add to the, you know, the population of our dogs around here so I decided that I would get her taken care of,” Willie said.
Resident Myleen Cornbeach said there are two types of animals, ones who are family pets who are susceptible to reproducing when strays come around, and homeless pets who are a product of that.
“It's kind of sad you got all these dogs running around,” Cornbeach said. “Some are starving and have no place to go.”
Kathleen Toth, President of Nuzzles & Co., said the best way to solve the problem is to control reproduction and find strays a home. She believes their efforts will help the community’s animal population.
“It is going to have an immediate impact on these animals but a lasting impact for the community because just the animals we spay and neuter today…they will not be contributing to the overpopulation,” Toth said.
Female dogs can have up to two litters per year if left to wander, giving birth to about six to eight puppies per pregnancy. Toth said over a lifetime, that dog could have about 100 puppies.
She said cats are in even bigger trouble because they can have up to 3 litters a year, six to eight kittens per pregnancy and about 115 in a lifetime.
The cycle continues with those puppies and kittens having babies of their own.
Veterinarian Alyssa Hughes performs spay and neuter surgeries for the organization and said in situations like this, it helps to remove an animal's drive to reproduce.
“They tend to stick closer to home because they don't have the drive to go out to find somebody to mate with,” Hughes said.
It is a goal the team is striving for but one the community hasn't always seen eye to eye with.
Darrell McCurtain believes culture has prevented many from spaying and neutering these cats and dogs.
“Animals are our brothers in the old tradition and we believe they have as much freedom as we have as human beings,” he said. “They are able to do what they want to do."
Organizers think those beliefs led to what we see today. They hope to keep the dialogue going with residents to ensure pets get the care they need and strays find a home.
They plan to go back once a week for the near future to pick up homeless pets and bring them back to their ranch.
For more information on adopting a pet, visit the Nuzzles & Co. website.
