The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), one of many charities supported by Andrew Farkas, recently opened a spay/neuter clinic for animal rescuers in Ridgewood, Queens. The clinic will serve as an interim facility through 2012, when construction for the permanent headquarters in Manhattan is expected to be completed.

The clinic is part of a larger effort to make safe and high-quality spay and neuter services available and affordable to all cats and dogs in New York City. It is yet another step in ASPCA’s plan to address animal homelessness, and the new facility will feature modern equipment, accept appointments and work with the organization’s transport services, which provide free rides to spay and neuter animals, including feral cats and dogs.

ASPCA’s current mobile clinics treat 30,000 animals per year in New York City, and have recently started a program to identify neighborhoods with higher numbers of abandoned cats and dogs. The organization is beginning by targeting East Harlem and the Lower East Side with increased spay and neuter services, monitoring the number of abandoned animals in those areas both before and after their efforts. ASPCA is an influential force outside of New York as well, and their website features a searchable database so you can find low-cost spay and neuter programs in your own community.