A significant part of achieving the goal of reducing the number of homeless animals is Baywater’s spay/neuter program. All animals are spayed/neutered before they can be adopted, thereby eliminating the number of unwanted animals that they can produce. In addition, Baywater has been helping with spay/neuter of feral cats through a variety of grants. The feral cat population is large in the county at this time and continues to grow. Other regions have demonstrated reduction in their feral cat populations through a trap/neuter/release program, in which the animals are returned to their habitat after neutering. Their territorial nature discourages other cats from coming into their territory and breeding, while at the same time, they cannot breed; thereby gradually reducing the overall population. Our goal is to spay/neuter between 250 and 300 animals in the coming 12 months.