NEW ORLEANS — Pet rescues across New Orleans are pleading with the city to step up and help with the staggering number of pets being surrendered.
One rescue shelter said they are getting 20 surrender requests a day, but they have a solution that could save the animals.
Zeus' Rescues shared their Nest camera video with Eyewitness News, and it's heartbreaking to watch. One person lifted their dog over the fence and left it there. In the middle of the day, someone else tied their dog up out front, the dog calling out for its owner. And another opened the front gate, leading their dog inside, only to leave without it.
Michelle Ingram with Zeus' Rescues said it's an overpopulation crisis.
"I've never seen anything like this in years, even in the Baton Rouge flood and after Hurricane Ida," Ingram said.
Ingram said she gets 20 calls a day from people asking to surrender their pet, but the rescue is at capacity.
"When push comes to shove and you don't have enough money to feed your kids and your pet, you're going to feed your kids," Ingram said.
Rescues presented a plan to the city council's "Animal Welfare Oversight Committee," that would essentially require all city agencies to work together to decrease the number of pets in shelters through education and prevention.
New Orleans has a problem with owners overbreeding and not spaying or neutering their pets. The proposed animal welfare oversight committee would advocate for free spay and neutering.
"That would be a win win for everybody," Ingram said.
Councilwoman Lesli Harris said in part, "My office has received complaints from residents about the LA-SPCA’s delayed response times, which is something that needs to be addressed."
Genie Goldring from the Inner Pup, which provides vet care to keep pets out of shelters, said the city is facing a huge animal welfare problem.
"There is so much insecurity between housing, financial and job insecurity," said Goldring.
She too is calling for the Louisiana SPCA to step up, saying, "It would make the LA-SPCA accountable ... we don't have a good handle on what they're doing."
Audrey Jarnagin recently adopted a kitten.
"Its so sad to think so many animals will never know what it's like to live in a loving home cause so many people are not able to get their animals spayed or neutered," Jarnagin said.
The Louisiana SPCA said in a statement, "New Orleans Humane Law & Rescue responds to emergencies within the hour. Calls that come in that are not emergencies and outside of our normal business hours or holidays are responded to the next business day ... Our officers are dispatched only through OPCD, in the same ways that any other emergency service is dispatched."
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