Prevention Before Crisis: How Free Spay and Neuter Clinics Change Communities
Carmen waits for the veterinarian to spay Mia at Global Strays pop up clinic.
She Fit in My Hand
When Carmen Hidalgo’s dog passed away, the house felt different. It felt dark but opening the curtains didn’t help.
Then her son brought her a small white puppy who had been born to his neighbor’s dog. The puppy was about two months old.
“She looked like a little cotton puff,” Carmen remembers, “She fit in my hand.”
She named her Mia. Mia is playful but shy. She follows Carmen from room to room. When Carmen leaves the house, Mia lowers her ears as if asking not to be left alone. When she returns, Mia greets her with joy.
On International Dog Day, Carmen found herself crying while looking at a photo of the dog she had lost. Mia walked over and gently touched the photograph with her paw.
“It was so comforting,” Carmen said. A connection like this wasn’t casual, it was built out of the close bond forged between a person and her dog.
The Cost Barrier to Spay/Neuter Surgery in Colombia
Carmen knew she wanted to spay Mia.
She’d seen what happens when there are too many dogs and not enough homes. Everyone in her neighborhood has seen puppies abandoned in boxes, or an injured dog left on the road. The signs of overpopulation that rescuing or adopting one puppy couldn’t stop.
But wanting to do the responsible thing and being able to afford it are not the same.
In Colombia, the daily minimum wage is about $25. That amount must cover food, rent, transportation, school supplies, healthcare, everything a family needs.
A spay surgery in Bogotá can cost up to $85.
When income is already stretched to cover basic survival, that expense simply does not fit.
It’s not neglect. It’s math.
How Free Spay and Neuter Clinics Work
When Carmen learned about our clinic near her home at the Plaza de Compartir outside of Bogotá, she registered immediately. “I was excited and afraid at the same time,” she said. “It was my first time. I went alone.”
Through high-volume pop-up clinics, Global Strays can perform more than one hundred surgeries in a single campaign. That scale allows us to reduce our internal cost to $22 per animal.
The Impact of Free Spay and Neuter Clinics
Carmen believes these clinics matter deeply, “They reduce the overpopulation of dogs on the streets,” she said. “They contribute a grain of sand each time.” In her extended family, three dogs have now been sterilized through our campaigns.
Each $22 donation covers one full surgery in our partner communities.
Spay and neuter is not dramatic work. There are no viral rescues. No shocking transformations.
What there is, is a small white dog who once fit in a woman’s hand, a family who wanted to do the responsible thing, and a free surgery that made it possible.
Prevention is quieter than crisis.
And it works.