Skip to Content

Shreveport teams with Caddo Parish to require pet sterilization

By Gerry May

Click here for updates on this story

    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — If you have a dog or cat in this city, you will now be required to have it spayed or neutered.

The city council voted unanimously to join Caddo Parish’s two-year program that requires pet owners to sterilize them. Parish funds will pay for the procedures at Robinson’s Rescue, a non-profit clinic on Line Avenue, which now in its 14th year of providing low or no-cost procedures.

“We’ve done over 80,000 surgeries, and we’ve put a dent in the euthanasia and the intake numbers of local shelters,” says veterinarian Dr. Andrea Everson. “So our whole point is to decrease the overpopulation, decrease the amount of animals on the streets, and decrease the amount of animals entering our shelters.”

Dr. Everson and her team were prepping pets for another busy day of 40 such operations on Tuesday.

“We really hope it raises awareness to spay and neuter,” Everson says of the ordinance. “We really hope that every pet in this community is spayed or neutered. It’s the only way we’re going to really decrease this overpopulation problem. Cats and dogs can have litter upon litter.”

She says her clinic was already preparing for an added workload before the council’s vote.

“Once we’re able to hire another veterinarian, we will be able to increase our load,” she says.

The parish will examine data at the end of two years and decide whether to make the spay/neuter mandate permanent. The city of Shreveport could do the same.

The shelter for Caddo Parish Animal Services takes in up to 5,000 animals a year, and 20 percent or more have to be put down. Commissioner John Paul Young, who sponsored Caddo’s ordinance, says it was important to get Shreveport on board, since most of the animals the shelter takes in come from the city.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Article Topic Follows: CNN - Regional

Jump to comments ↓

CNN Newsource

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KTVZ NewsChannel 21 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content