West Virginia Spay Neuter Program (WVSNP). The law was passed in 2013 and was funded in 2018. Has paid for over 84,000 surgeries and paid over $4M to WV Vet clinics. WVSNP WILL sunset in 2027 if our legislature fails to renew the funding. Let’s not wait but get it done in 2025.
WHY FUND WVSNP?
- Program passed in 2013, Rules passed in 2015, Funding passed in 2017 w/HB2552
- WVSNP is a state-wide grant program managed by the WV Department of Agriculture (WVDA)
- WVSNP began accepting applications in 2018, will sunset after the 2027 grant cycle
- Pet Food Registration Fee, hereinafter referred to as Fee, is collected by the WVDA from each pet food company selling products in WV. The Fee is collected one time every year.
- In 2023, the Fee was assessed on 12,935 different product types.
- Approximately 50% of the Fee is earmarked for WVSNP.
- $450,000 is allocated to WVSNP each year – no taxpayer money involved.
- Pet food companies sold $356M of pet food in WV in 2023 – one tenth of one percent (.001%) of their sales was contributed to WVSNP.
- 5 states use the Pet Food Fee Registration for a State Spay neuter Program.
- WVSNP funds granted to WV 501(c)3 animal welfare non-profits and government shelters
- Private foundations, acknowledging the State’s effort, have added over $1M to WVSNP.
- To date $ 4,194,743 paid for surgeries performed by veterinarians registered in WV
- Total spent includes $1.9M contributed by grant recipients from their own funds.
- 85,115 WV dogs and cats sterilized in 7 years, each guaranteed to receive a rabies shot
- The average cost paid by WVSNP for spay/neuter surgeries was $55.28 per animal
- WV taxpayers pay an estimated $218 per animal for county shelters to euthanize homeless dogs and cats every year.
- Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars will be saved by reducing pet overpopulation
- Dogs can reproduce at age 7 months, cats can reproduce as early as 4 months
- Lower pet population reduces incidents of cruelty, neglect, human/animal conflicts, compassion fatigue suffered by animal welfare workers, and threats to community health.
- HB 2158 (SB 578) will remove the sunset clause and guarantee that WVSNP will continue to serve all 55 counties, is supported by 103 organizations that received a 2023 grant and their clients, the WV Department of Agriculture, the WV Voters for Animal Welfare (WVVAW), and the Federation of Humane Organizations of WV (FOHO WV) Source:WV Code §19-20C|State Rule 61 CRSR 24WV Code §19-14-5 West Virginia Department of AgricultureThe Federation of Humane Organizations of West Virginia (FOHO WV)
- PFI https://americanpetproducts.org/industry-trends-and-stats
- Funding WVSNP costs less than using tax dollars to kill dogs and cats!
Excellent overview of the Spay neuter effort at the WV State Legislature! 2025
Funding must be extended beyond 2027 by the legislature to forever!
There will not be a bill number until after the legislative session opens Feb. 12th. Please reference the bill like this for now.
Support proposed legislation to remove sunset provision from WV Code §19-14-5 Permits; registration providing funding for the WV State Spay Neuter Grant Program. (Passed into law in 2017 by HB2552)
There are many new legislators since 2017 who will not be aware of HB 2552 and all that it has accomplished since it passed. If you wonder why did it have a sunset, it is not unusual to place this provision to prompt a report on the success or failure of a program. It is more routine to place a 10 yr. sunset on all legislative rules to force another discussion on the topic. This was more of a standard procedure and not really any issue with the bill itself. A reminder that it passed the entire legislature with only 17 total nays. It is easy to be positive on the effects of the spay neuter program since all the news on this program is a success.
Here is a list of the 2025 WV Senate Districts with the WVSNP dollars awarded per district and to those counties within that Senate district. The Senators are listed along with emails too. These dollars are inclusive of 2018-2024 WVSNP dollars awarded. We had to wait until all those dollars were calculated to get these numbers. If you have a county profile sheet from a last fall FOHO zoom call those amounts reflected 2028-2023 so you can update your county dollars on this list.
Background on the WVSNP Funding: Answers the question why use pet food fee to fund spay neuter in WV?
The Pet food funding bill in 2017 was HB 2552 (11 sponsors) and it passed the WV State legislature in 2017. It had overwhelming bi-partisan support with only 17 nays in entire legislature. We had asked for $900,000 but the amount was cut in half while the bill was still in committee and a sunset was added to the bill for a 10- year period thru 2027. This pet food registration fee generates approx. $450,000 per year through the WV Dept. of Ag. In 2023, a private foundation added $1,350,000 yearly for spay neuter in our state for a period of 3 years through 2025. This has achieved the goal of fully funding the program for the first time since it began in 2018.
To date, more than 84,000 dogs and cats have been altered throughout our state with this grant funding.
There are 5 states with this type of funding. Maine, Maryland, WV, New Mexico and Delaware.
Pet food sales nationwide 2023 $64 billion. Pet food sales 2023 WV over $150 million
Calculating WV Pet food sales……not an exact science but as good as it can be.
64.4 billion National Pet food sales 2023 divided by 86 million US Households (66% of US total households of 131 million = $744 per US Household spent. I took rounded figures 64 billion divided by 86 million and got $744 on pet food per household. Calculating that way is a whopping $358 million in WV pet food sales.
US census 2020 list 131 million US Households
1,770,071 total WV Population with 720,668 total households and 66% pet owning = 475,640
How do you get one of these designs on a t shirt? If you are a grantee and are joining us at the capitol on March 25, 2025!
This innovative T-shirt design was created by Michelle Boyers,
who is the Project Manager in Production & Graphic Services at
City Neon Inc. which is owned by Carol Atkins. This is a local Morgantown business with a proud history of 60 years serving the Morgantown area.
We want to thank City Neon for their imagination in creating this design to help us in our battle to control pet overpopulation in WV.