MIDLAND, Texas — Karen Patterson saw a problem in our community, so she helped start a non-profit to be part of the solution
"We started Fix West Texas as a mobile spay and neuter clinic and now we have our own clinic," said Patterson
Fix West Texas provides low cost spay and neuters as well as vaccinations for animals in the community, and just this year the non-profit has spayed or neutered almost 7,000 cats and dogs which creates a ripple effect.
"We hope we're creating some momentum for a social change here in West Texas, of getting your animals spayed and neutered so we don't have the overpopulation problem, so we don't have the strays on the street, so we don't have so many in the shelter we have to kill because there's not enough homes," said Patterson.
Midland recently opened a new animal shelter in October and despite it being bigger and better, Patterson says it alone won't stop the problem.
"We have a new beautiful animal shelter, state of the art, invested about 10 million dollars on it, but the fact of the matter is we're killing about just as many as we were at the old shelter," said Patterson.
Fix West Texas also provides other services for the pets in our area, giving them a warm place to stay and food as well as educating the community on the best way to care for pets.
When it comes down to it, solving the problem is a community-wide effort.
"Unless we change what we're doing as a community and what we need to do is spay and neuter, we need to take responsibility for our pets, not just their reproduction but keeping them in your yard, your houses, we kind of just need to step up our game a little bit," said Patterson.