The City of LaGrange Animal Shelter will receive a $3,000 dog and cat sterilization grant from the Georgia Department of Agriculture. According to a City of LaGrange press release, the animal shelter was one of 71 out of 133 animal shelters and rescue organizations to receive the grant.

The Dog and Cat Sterilization Program has spayed and neutered more than 100,000 cats and dogs since 2003. Grants are funded by purchasing Dog and Cat Sterilization Program license plates, the income tax checkoff and direct contributions.

“It is a real honor for the shelter to be selected as one of the recipients for the 2018 spay neuter grant,” said LaGrange Animal Shelter Supervisor Chris Bussey in a press release. “The grant will allow the shelter to have several animals spayed or neutered before being placed up for adoption. We are proud the state awarded us this grant.”

According to the press release, grants ranged between $2,500 to $140,000 and were given based on “targeting of important animal populations, ability to increase surgery numbers, cost-benefit ratio, record of grant applicant and sustainability.”

Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Gary W. Black said $425,000 in grants were given total.

“Local communities often have citizens who are burdened by the high costs of having their pets spayed or neutered,” Black said in a press release. “This grant program does a wonderful job in targeting these communities all across Georgia in an effort to aid them as they strive to keep strays off the street and control the animal population in a humane manner.”