FREEPORT — A year after Maine’s first low-cost, high-volume spay and neuter clinic opened in Freeport, more than 4,000 Midcoast area pets have undergone surgeries there aimed at lowering the number of animals entering rescue shelters.

Dr. Elizabeth Stone, director of the Community Spay- Neuter Clinic in Freeport, said the biggest barrier to the surgeries is cost.

Stone said that the problem amounts to 9,000 pets euthanized out of the 27,000 that enter Maine shelters every year.

“It’s a huge animal welfare problem and a strain on shelters,” said Stone, who is also the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Wildlife Health Research, based in Pownal.

For wildlife, too — especially birds, Stone said — overpopulation of outdoor cats poses problems.

For animals with homes, Stone said, the surgery can make for a better pet. Neutered male cats are less likely to roam, spray or fight, which Stone said can open them up to disease transmitted from other animals.

But hesitation about the reasons for spaying or neutering a pet isn’t the biggest barrier to the surgery, Stone said.

“( Pet owners) definitely want to do it,” said Jess Williams, the clinic’s lead veterinary technician. “It’s just the cost.”

Stone said the Community Spay-Neuter Clinic is part of a growing number of animal care centers nationwide that are run on the model of the nonprofit Humane Alliance, with the goal of providing low-cost surgeries made more affordable by completing a high volume of surgeries.

“The high volume is the main reason that we can keep prices down because we can do 30 (surgeries) in a day and keep the price really low and it still supports the facility,” Stone said.

A recent promotion that allowed the clinic to perform the surgeries for $20 — a third of the normal cost — quickly filled the clinic’s calendar, bringing in a total of 225 cats before a time of the year when many female cats are in heat, Stone said.

Stone said that price and volume are closely tied.

“When we do the $20 specials, we fill those in a week,” Stone said.

Beyond anecdotal evidence, Stone cited a 2009 study from the American Veterinary Association that indicated a strong link between household income and whether pets in those households were spayed or neutered. Households with higher incomes proved far more likely to have neutered pets than those with lower incomes.

The study, titled “Population characteristics and neuter status of cats living in households in the United States,” found that only 50 percent of cats in households earning less than $35,000 had been spayed or neutered while 90 percent of cats in households earning more than that amount had been spayed or neutered.

“It’s definitely a cost problem and not about education,” Stone said. “ People don’t come in and say that they didn’t know about spaying or neutering their pet, but that they couldn’t afford it.”

A strong response to the lower-cost $20 offer through the month of February adds evidence to the point. Williams said the clinic is now looking to raise $9,000 to be able to make the same price offer again through the month of May.

Stone said another key to keeping down the cost of the clinic is volunteer help, which she said is a constant need.

For more information on the clinic, prices and location, visit communityspayneuterclinic.com or call 540-4032.

On Sunday, the clinic will hold a celebration of its oneyear anniversary with events including pet portraits, human face painting, and food from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the clinic’s offices at 475 Route 1, Freeport.

dfishell@timesrecord.com