Christ Yoder
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BATON ROUGE — A shelter just off the LSU campus is at such critical capacity that it has made the “extremely difficult decision” to begin euthanasia for the space.
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WBRZ has previously reported on the dire situation at Companion Animal Alliance — and other Baton Rouge-area shelters — where volunteers saw a surge of pets visiting in the wake of the pandemic.
“Right now, unfortunately, we’re in a place where we’re euthanizing dogs that are a little skinny, a little sick, maybe just dogs that have a heartworm or have more anxiety than other people. It’s not fun for anyone right now,” said Emily Lemoine, director of communications at CAA.
Click here to see all pets for adoption at CAA
Read the full Companion Animal Alliance statement here:
“East Baton Rouge Parish has a population of nearly 450,000. Companion Animal Alliance has 53 people. Our staff cannot continue to effectively serve their community with the number of animals entrusted to our care daily. We need our community to help us care for these animals.
CAA is now in such dire straits that we are euthanizing for space. This means that if a dog is skinny, a carrier of heartworm, anxious, stressed or in a number of other treatable conditions, our shelter staff are forced to make the extremely difficult decision to euthanize the animal. People who work in animal welfare are naturally animal lovers, and it hurts us to make those choices. Please help us help them. Here’s what we need from our community: CAA needs 250 dogs (we’re moving cats quickly, thankfully) to leave our shelter by Sunday, whether through adoptions, fosters or of a rescue partner forever. Help us reach our goal!
Our shelter works tirelessly to provide as many programs, goods and services as possible to our audience. Programs like Pets for Life, an outreach program dedicated to helping pet owners in underserved communities, and our Pet Pantry, which provides free food to pet owners, don’t will NOT be there to help you if we cannot maintain our basic shelter functions. We have been transporting animals to rescue partners frequently and as often as possible, with 57 dogs leaving already this month for transport and rescue alone, we have an incredible foster base and our numbers of uptake are up from previous years – that’s not enough. We need YOU, the community we serve, to step in and help. Please consider adopting, fostering, donating, volunteering, or at least advocating for CAA people and pets!”
