# Hunting Park: Pets Get Yearly Vaccinations for Free

[![Residents gathered in the park to wait for their pets' vaccinations.](https://phillyn-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/26005618/sp1319huntingparkpetline-300x225.jpg)](https://phillyn-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/26005618/sp1319huntingparkpetline.jpg)Residents gathered in the park to wait for their pets' vaccinations. The Humane Society of the United States Pets for Life program recently held a free clinic in Hunting Park. It offered dog and cat vaccines for rabies and other diseases, such as distemper. From 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., local residents gathered between Ninth Street at Cayuga and Bristol streets with their four-legged pets. No registration was required before the event. This allowed pet owners to freely walk up to the line and sign the necessary documents to have their animals vaccinated. The two most common vaccines for these animals–distemper and rabies (rabies is required by law)–can usually cost up to $30, according to the [Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals](https://www.pspca.org/vaccine-clinics), which also helped host this event. [![Chad Jimenez stood in line with his akita dog.](https://phillyn-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/26005618/sp1319huntingparkakitadog-e1365953521266-206x275.jpg)](https://phillyn-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/26005618/sp1319huntingparkakitadog-e1365953521266.jpg)Chad Jimenez stood in line with his akita dog. “It’s so expensive to go to a veterinarian and a lot of people don’t have cars either to go to one,” Dawn Collette, a Pets for Life volunteer, said. “A lot of people from the neighborhood walk to come.” To keep the people in line engaged and entertained, the HSUS offered free food for people and free treats for the pets. While people waited, volunteers like Collette gave people information about animal care, training, and spay and neutering. Collette said this event takes place once a year–last year she said there were approximately 600 animals. “I never had the money so the SPCA recommended me,” Chad Jimenez said, who brought his two-and-a-half month old akita dog to get vaccinated. For more information about the HSUS, visit its website.