Frank Hutchins: If all of Merced chips in, SPCA will be fine

Re “Cost of repairs has SPCA scrambling” (Page A2, July 17): Pursuant to the Sun-Star article regarding the problems the Merced SPCA has in keeping the shelter up and running, I think back to 2014. The work the SPCA has done for the animals of Merced surely has positively impacted each of the 81,743 citizens in one way or another, either helping them with their animals or providing healthy animals for adoption. On the other side of that coin, the SPCA has made a contribution to every resident by taking stray, abandoned animals off the street, providing them with medical care, spaying and neutering, vaccinating them and finding homes for them thus lowering cost to city and county animal control.

So if each of us 81,743 residents should send them a dollar; pet owners should send $2 and businesses send $10 so this “No Kill” shelter can get a new septic system, replace its 40-year-old roof an put in proper drainage to prevent yearly flooding.

Really, can we afford not to help the SPCA?

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Frank Hutchins: If all of Merced chips in, SPCA will be fine."