BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Across several parishes, what is known as “animal dumping” continues to be a problem for animal shelters and rescue organizations.
When animals are left unattended, without any food or water, and left outside shelters or rescue organizations during non-business hours it is known as animal dumping.
The Director of Operations for Rescue Alliance, Jonathan Henriques, has a nonprofit cat-only organization in Ascension Parish.
“To us, animals are kids, they’re babies,” said Henriques, who is tired of the amount of animal dumping. He said in November, he had nearly 200 cats in his facility alone.
On March 9, Henriques found a broken cage door with a few wet blankets and a note.
“A person dumped a dog here, at the time we were told around one o’clock in the morning,” said Henriques. “And we’re on the main street and the dog got out!”
The Rescue Alliance posted the broken cage and runaway dog on Facebook, in hope of someone might know where the dog is.
The Facebook post had hundreds of comments from residents mad about the “uncaring” animal dumping.
Comments such as, “Adopt don’t shop, animals aren’t disposable they are a commitment” and “Abandonment is Illegal.”
According to Henriques, the owner of the dog jumped into the arguments on Facebook and refused to send photos to help locate the animal.
According to Louisiana Law, animal dumping is considered to be a crime of animal cruelty. Depending on the case, fines can be up to $1,000 or possibly imprisoned for six months.
Across town, One animal shelter in East Baton Rouge Parish called Companion Animal Alliance is finding ways to provide resources to people in the area who may be struggling to afford their animal, this is an effort to help prevent animal dumping within the Parish.
The Director of Grants Communications for Companion Animal Alliance, Emily Lemonie, said there are multiple options like Pet Food Pantry, Pets for Life, and Positive Alternative to Shelter Surrender (PASS). Some of the programs were introduced at the beginning of the new year, and they have been increasing in popularity.
“They’ll do free spay and neutered, surgeries on pets, they will provide proper housing, food, and medical treatment,” said Lemoine.
Rescue Alliance in Ascension Parish is a nonprofit organization that solely relies on donations. Click here if you are interested in donating.
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