FARMINGTON — If Davis County Animal Services can help control the pet population, fewer animals might end up in its Fruit Heights shelter.

So the agency is building a surgery room to perform spays and neuters on animals before they leave the shelter.

Part of the fee for each adopted animal normally includes a certificate for spay or neuter at a person's veterinarian of choice, said Keith Major, business manager for the Davis County Sheriff's Office, which runs Animal Services.

But people have been adopting animals without ever cashing in their certificates, Major said, meaning the Animal Services spay-and-neuter fund has been on a steady increase. That increase has allowed the agency to create a medically clean room for the surgeries to be performed by a contract veterinarian at the shelter.

"We're creating a surgery so when pets are adopted they will be spayed or neutered on site instead of a wish and promise that it would happen," he said.

— Joseph M. Dougherty