Spay/neuter became central to the ASPCA’s work in a sequence of decisions rather than one moment. The organization required sterilization for cats and dogs adopted from its New York City shelters in 1973, handed its long-running animal-control contract to a successor agency in 1994 and moved resources into high-volume surgery, launched its first New York City mobile surgical clinic in 1996, and in 2015 acquired the Asheville, North Carolina program that is now the ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance. Each step is documented in the ASPCA’s own February 18, 2026 retrospective, which is the main source for the chronology below. Where the organization’s account is the only source, this article says so.
Why sterilization became a welfare priority in the 1970s
According to the ASPCA, spay/neuter was not widely used for American pets until the 1970s. The organization ties the shift to three pressures: rising pet ownership, unplanned litters, and shelter overpopulation. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, it describes a growing awareness of animal overpopulation and a normalizing of surgical sterilization. The ASPCA estimates that tens of millions of homeless dogs and cats were dying nationally in that period. That is the organization’s own estimate, not a count checked against independent data, and it should be read as the ASPCA’s characterization of the problem it was responding to.
The historical background: a shelter system built on destruction
Any account of the ASPCA’s turn toward prevention has to start with what came before it. The ASPCA’s retrospective is candid that its early approach to homeless animals relied on killing. It says New York City could see as many as 700 homeless dogs and cats drowned in a single day in the 1870s, and that founder Henry Bergh designed that system, which he considered the “quickest and kindest way.” Modern readers will find that description uncomfortable, and the ASPCA presents it as history rather than as a standard it endorses.
The organization took on more of the municipal role over time. In 1894, six years after Bergh’s death, the ASPCA agreed to take over New York City animal-control services, including humane destruction of captured animals. The retrospective reports that 24,275 animals were put to death at the ASPCA’s Brooklyn shelter that year. In the 1920s and 1930s, it says it operated shelters in all five boroughs and handled more than 300,000 animals annually, with at least 280,000 killed in 1928. These are historical figures as the ASPCA reports them. They are useful for understanding scale, but they come from the organization’s own account rather than from an independently examined archive.
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Milestones in the ASPCA’s spay/neuter work
| Year | What the ASPCA reports | Source and limits |
|---|---|---|
| 1894 | Takes over New York City animal-control services, including humane destruction of captured animals; 24,275 animals put to death at the Brooklyn shelter that year | ASPCA retrospective (February 18, 2026); historical figures as reported by the organization |
| 1973 | Requires cats and dogs adopted from its New York City shelters to be sterilized by the ASPCA or a veterinarian chosen by the adopter | ASPCA retrospective; the ASPCA’s official history timeline also lists this year |
| 1994 | Transfers New York City animal-control services to the successor agency now called Animal Care Centers of NYC and redirects resources toward spay/neuter programs | ASPCA retrospective and official history timeline |
| 1996 | Launches its first New York City mobile surgical clinic, later expanded to a fleet | ASPCA retrospective and official history timeline |
| 2006 | New York City records more shelter adoptions than euthanasia for the first time in its history, ten years after the mobile clinic launch | Reported milestone in the ASPCA retrospective; the organization does not attribute the shift solely to spay/neuter |
| 2015 | Acquires Asheville’s Humane Alliance, now the ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance | ASPCA retrospective and official history timeline; the organization describes the Alliance as a pioneer in high-quality, high-volume techniques and training |
1973: making sterilization a condition of adoption
The 1973 policy is the clearest early step in the ASPCA’s prevention record. Cats and dogs adopted from its New York City shelters had to be sterilized, either by the ASPCA or by a veterinarian the adopter selected. The ASPCA says other cities and states adopted similar policies over the following two decades. That spread is the organization’s claim; this article has not verified how many jurisdictions acted or on what terms.
The policy also shows an early choice that still shapes ASPCA work: sterilization was tied to the animals the organization itself placed. It was not a general law covering every pet in the city, a distinction that becomes important in the policy section below.
1994: leaving animal control to focus on prevention
After a century of animal-control work, the ASPCA transferred that role in 1994 to what is now Animal Care Centers of NYC and redirected its resources toward spay/neuter programs. The retrospective frames this as a deliberate shift from handling intake to preventing it. The organization does not say that the transfer alone produced any particular change in shelter numbers, and readers should treat the 1994 decision as a change in the organization’s priorities rather than as a measured outcome.
Expanding through mobile and high-volume surgery
The ASPCA’s model after 1994 depended on getting surgery to animals and owners who could not easily reach a fixed clinic. Two developments define it.
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The New York City mobile surgical clinic
The first New York City mobile surgical clinic opened in 1996 and was later expanded to a fleet. The ASPCA reports that ten years after that launch, in 2006, New York City saw more animals adopted from shelters than euthanized for the first time in the city’s history. The organization presents this as a milestone in a period of expanded services. It does not claim that spay/neuter alone produced the change, and it reflects many shelter, adoption, and community factors that the retrospective does not separate out.
The Asheville Alliance and the high-volume model
In 2015 the ASPCA acquired Asheville’s Humane Alliance, which is now the ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance. The organization describes the Alliance as a pioneer in high-quality, high-volume techniques and training. Its central idea, in the words of Dr. Karla Brestle, a veterinarian who joined the Alliance in 1998, was to set a workable daily rhythm for a clinic:
“We showed how clinics could alter a specific quantity of animals per day with a specific number of staff to make a dent in their community’s animal population,” says Dr. Brestle. “We gave them the formula, and they ran with it.”
That description explains why the Alliance’s reach is measured partly in clinics trained rather than only in surgeries performed. The ASPCA says the model has led to more than 200 high-quality, high-volume clinics opening nationwide.
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What the ASPCA does now
The organization’s current work combines direct care with training, grants, and advocacy. According to its materials, the current mix includes:
- Surgical centers and mobile services
- Education for pet owners and the public
- Shelter grant funding for other organizations
- Veterinary training through the ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance
- Legislative advocacy on spay/neuter and related policy
The ASPCA’s current direct-service sites named in its materials are New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, plus the Alliance in North Carolina. Clinic locations, eligibility rules, and capacity change, so confirm them directly with the ASPCA before planning a visit or a referral.
Reading the ASPCA’s figures
The ASPCA publishes many large numbers, but they count different places, years, and program scopes. Use each one with its own context rather than adding them together.
| Figure | Geography and scope | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| More than 675,000 animals spayed or neutered | New York City program | Since 2002 | ASPCA, 2026 |
| More than 164,000 animals altered, including 261 rabbits | Los Angeles program | Since 2015 | ASPCA, 2026 |
| More than 20,000 animals altered | Miami clinic | Since 2019 | ASPCA, 2026 |
| More than 566,000 cats and dogs spayed or neutered | Asheville facility | Since 1994 | ASPCA, 2026 |
| More than 18,000 surgeries | Asheville program only | Calendar year 2024 | ASPCA 2024 Annual Report |
| More than 13.6 million surgeries by clinics trained through Alliance programs | Nationwide, collective across trained clinics | From 2004 onward (2024 Annual Report); described as 2005 to 2024 in the 2026 retrospective | ASPCA 2024 Annual Report; ASPCA, 2026 |
| Projected more than 26,000 surgeries annually | Alliance headquarters | Expected by December 2027; a projection, not a result | ASPCA, 2026 |
The Alliance figure is the one most likely to be quoted without context. The two ASPCA sources give slightly different start years, so it is safest to cite the 13.6 million total together with the source that reports it.
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Adoption and intake data
The ASPCA’s 2026 retrospective includes 2025 outcome data. For New York City, it reports adoption rates of 88% for dogs and 91 to 99% for cats and small animals in 2025. It also cites Shelter Animals Count data for 2025, which the ASPCA reports as follows: private shelters and rescues placed 86 to 91% of dogs and 85 to 88% of cats, while government and municipal-contract shelters placed 51 to 60% of dogs and 55 to 73% of cats. The ASPCA notes that other outcomes, including return-to-owner cases, account for part of the gap between shelter categories. The retrospective does not give an original publishing organization and year for every underlying Shelter Animals Count figure, so these numbers should be attributed as Shelter Animals Count data cited by the ASPCA rather than as an independently examined dataset.
Also in 2025, the ASPCA reports that 25% of dogs and 23% of cats entering shelters were already spayed or neutered. That figure describes the animals that came in, not a before-and-after measure of the program’s effect.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Policy position: incentives and access, not blanket mandates
The ASPCA’s current policy position differs from its 1973 adoption rule. The organization says it supports incentives to encourage companion-animal spay/neuter. It does not support local laws that mandate sterilization of all cats and dogs. Its fuller position favors:
- Voluntary, affordable, and accessible spay/neuter services for owned pets
- Trap-Neuter-Return for feral cats
- Sterilization of shelter animals, and of dogs and cats before sale by pet stores
The organization also says communities should investigate the local causes of shelter intake and the barriers that keep people from accessing services. It recommends analyzing dogs and cats separately, so that a trend in one population does not hide what is happening in the other. That reasoning explains why the ASPCA’s program language refers to owned pets, community cats, and shelter animals as different groups.
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What the record can and cannot show
The ASPCA’s account supports a clear statement about its own program history: it required sterilization for animals it adopted out in 1973, moved resources toward prevention in 1994, expanded mobile and high-volume surgery from 1996, and absorbed the Asheville Alliance in 2015. It also supports the statement that sterilization can reduce unwanted litters and shelter intake, which the organization presents as its reasoning.
It does not establish that spay/neuter alone caused the later changes in shelter intake, euthanasia, or adoption that the organization reports. The retrospective itself treats declining euthanasia as a broader trend, and the adoption figures sit alongside changes in shelter practice, community programs, and other local factors. Likewise, the historical figures from the 1890s through the 1920s come from the ASPCA’s own account and have not been checked against independent archives. A fair reading is that the ASPCA made spay/neuter a central part of its work for reasons it documents, and that the size and timing of its outcomes are its own reported results, which independent studies would need to test before they could be treated as settled.
The organization’s own materials also state a position clearly: spaying and neutering are “the most effective ways to reduce pet overpopulation and euthanasia,” in the words of Dr. Brestle. Those are organizationally published statements rather than an independent evaluation. Dr. Carolyn Brown, who has overseen the ASPCA’s New York City spay/neuter operations since 2011, puts the case in terms of the individual animal: “Spaying or neutering is more than just a healthy choice for the individual pet — it’s a lifesaving one.”
For readers following the topic, February is recognized as Spay/Neuter Awareness Month, and the ASPCA’s 2026 retrospective was published in that context.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsTaken together, the ASPCA’s story is a case of an organization changing its role from animal control to prevention, backed by surgical capacity it built and then extended to other clinics. The evidence presented by the ASPCA is strongest on what it did and when, and weakest on how much each action changed the outcomes it reports.
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