While shelter leaders may disagree with one another about strategies or policies—and healthy debate is important—not one of them wakes up intending to do anything other than the very best they can for animals and the communities they serve. The problem is that today, doing your very best often isn’t enough. Not because people don’t care. Because the math no longer works.

California is facing a well-documented shortage of veterinarians, particularly those trained and willing to perform high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) surgery. At the same time, demand for services has surged. The result is a bottleneck that no amount of dedication can overcome without systemic change.