This year, Halloween is black cats’ lucky day: PETA’s mobile veterinary clinics are back and offering a free local spay/neuter special in their honor on October 31 (companion cats of other colors are invited, too).

When:       Tuesday, October 31, check-in at 8 a.m.

Where:      Tractor Supply Co., 3000 Pruden Blvd., Suffolk and Brittingham-Midtown Community Center, 570 McLawhorne Dr., Newport News

Appointments are required (and limited) and can be made by calling PETA at 757-622-PETA (7382), extension 3, or reserving a spot online at PETA.org/SpayNeuter.

“The real fright on Halloween is how many cats could be born into a world bursting at the seams with homeless and abandoned ones struggling to survive on the streets,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA invites everyone with a cat who hasn’t been ‘fixed’ yet to help fight this crisis by spaying or neutering their feline friend free of charge.”

Around 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time. Many animal shelters—under pressure to avoid euthanasia at all costs—are turning animals away and even refusing to accept cats altogether. Many are forced to fend for themselves on the streets, where they may be hit by cars, infected with diseases, or killed by cruel people—and leaving them to reproduce exacerbates the companion animal overpopulation crisis. That’s why PETA urges shelters to accept all animals in need, asks everyone to adopt instead of buying from breeders or pet stores, and advises guardians to keep their companion cats indoors.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.