Free spaying and neutering services in Alachua County are targeting the animal that causes the area's biggest overpopulation problem - pit bulls.
The dogs make up 40 percent of the animals in Alachua County animal shelters, said David Flagler, the county's Animal Services director.
Jim Jarrell, education program coordinator of the Alachua County Animal Shelter, said the county and a local organization offer spaying for pit bulls and pit bull mixes, the most effective way to target overpopulated pets.
Operation PitNip has provided free spaying at the West End Animal Hospital for the last three years and was the first program in the area to target pit bulls.
The program was inspired by animals abandoned after Hurricane Katrina, the organization's pamphlet stated. Of these, 40 percent were pit bulls.
In the past three years, PitNip has spayed more than 800 pit bulls, said Erin Dickerson, a UF sophomore who works with the program.
Alachua County Animal Services also started providing free spaying and neutering for low-income owners of pit bulls in July.
Jarrell said that, since receiving a $20,000 grant from the Florida Animal Friend License Plate Fund last month, they have now expanded to include other animals as well.
He said he hopes the group will be able to spay 800 animals with the grant, but it would have to provide the service for the next 10 years to make a dent in the pit bull problem.
Pit bulls and pit bull mixes have been the dominant dog breed in Alachua County shelters and the U.S. for decades, Jarrell said.
Dickerson said pit bull fighting has been a common problem in the rural areas of Alachua County for years.
Pit bull overpopulation is a problem in other parts of the country as well, she said.
In Alachua County, Flagler said, 15 healthy pit bulls were put down in September, which is considered to be a low number.
People breed the dogs out of ignorance because they don't realize there is no demand in the market right now, he said.
Dickerson agreed.
"It's not because they were mean, but because there was just too many," she said.
