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The Lafourche Parish Council voted last month to allow the animal shelter to lower adoption fees for animals in times of higher intake in an effort to lower euthanasia rates.
The move enables parish officials to respond to higher numbers of dogs and cats coming into the shelter during summer months and when animals are seized in large groups.
“[Over a month] ago we had hundreds of kittens coming in, so what we did was delayed that adoption fee for cats and kittens,” Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter Manager Hilary Knight said. “We said we’re going to cut our losses on this and we going to get ‘em moving through the system [and] kind of give us some cushion to work with.”
Knight said the increase in kittens brought into the shelter is because cats are more sexually active during the spring, and they have their babies soon afterwards.
And earlier this month, 29 dogs were rescued from a breeder in Galliano, pushing the shelter past capacity for dogs. Prices to adopt were slashed and the shelter workers and volunteers were able to adopt out 24 of them. Unfortunately, five were euthanized.
The shelter, located at 934 Highway 3185 in Thibodaux, has the capacity for 50 cats and 30 dogs. Knight said that there is an average intake of five to 10 animals per day. According to a State Legislative Auditor’s report, the Lafourche shelter took in 3,076 animals and adopted out 318 in 2013.
But Knight said that some animals are handed over to adoption groups and the shelter euthanizes less than the majority of all the strays they take in.
According to Pamela George, the president of the Lafourche Parish Chapter of the Humane Society, euthanasia rates at the Lafourche shelter have dropped dramatically since Knight took over the shelter less than a year ago.
“On the books it was unreal,” George said. “They were slaughtering these animals every three days.”
George and Knight both said that the shelter is too small to adequately serve Lafourche Parish’s stray animal population.
Through partnerships with local groups, the kill rate has dropped, but Knight said that flexibility in pricing should lower it much more.
Knight said the flexibility is especially important during the warm summer months when animals are more prone to procreate. In fact, many of the dogs and cats are sent to northern states because their stray animal populations are more controlled, largely because of the climate. Louisiana, being sub-tropical, gives strays more opportunity to reproduce.
Before Knight can offer cats and dogs for adoption at the discounted rate, though, it must be approved by the Lafourche Parish Administration. But Knight said Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph and her staff understand the challenges the shelter is facing and support offering discounted adoptions.
Deputy Director of Community Services Reggie Bagala said Lafourche Parish government officials want to avoid euthanizing animals for both ethical reasons and economic. He said no one likes to talk about euthanizing animals but that even humane euthanasia costs the animal shelter money, in fact, about $30 per animal. He said offering reduced adoption fees may turn out to be critical when the shelter is taking in more animals than are being adopted out.
“That’s our last option,” Bagala said. “That’s the last thing we want to do…and we want try viable opportunity to give these stray animals a home.”
The Lafourche Parish Council approved the ordinance at their July 28 meeting.
