Animal welfare groups in Indianapolis will receive more than $2 million from three foundations to provide spay-and-neuter services and help stray and abandoned animals.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust will provide more than $1.5 million to the newly formed Indianapolis Animal Welfare Alliance and other groups. The Lilly Endowment has awarded a $500,000 grant and the Tony Stewart Foundation has awarded a $30,000 grant. Some of the money will be used for a regional public relations campaign focused on spay/neuter services, adoptions and responsible pet ownership.

The Pulliam Trust is giving $170,000 to the Foundation Against Companion-Animal Euthanasia to double the number of cats it neuters to 6,000 and to help it merge with a second group trying to decrease the number of feral cats in the city.

Local animal groups have identified 10 local ZIP codes that account for about 75 percent of the 18,000 animals sent to Indianapolis Animal Care & Control each year.

In August, the Humane Society of Indianapolis opened a pet vaccination clinic in one of those ZIP codes. The center housing the clinic in Haughville hopes to soon begin offering low-cost spay/neuter services.