Louisiana Has a New Way We Can Help Unwanted Animals

With a piece of legislation passed this year in the Louisiana Legislature, more money will be raised to help save the lives of pets. The program allows for a new commemorative stamp program according to Louisiana Radio Network.

While these won't be stamps you can use to mail a letter, they will be beautiful, affordable art pieces that you can collect.

In Lafayette, we have a "no-kill" shelter, and while there are other shelters like this in Acadiana, many more areas of our state simply do not even have shelters at all.

One of the other huge problems in Louisiana is that many pet owners choose not to or can't afford to spay or neuter their pets. That has led to an overpopulation of animals.

Most public shelters and non-profit groups that help animals are over capacity. There is just not enough space for all the animals that have been abandoned or surrendered.

While organizations in our were able to save tens of thousands of pets last year, unfortunately, there were 98,000 animals that were euthanized according to Paws Northeast of NE Louisiana. Of the 72 animal shelters across the state, 26 of them are no-kill facilities.

According to the Shelter Animals Count program at shelteranimalscount.org, national euthanasia rates are at a 3-year high right now. Spaying and neutering animals is needed so there won't be so many abandoned pets. The new stamp program will help shelters across Louisiana be able to help people afford these procedures.

There are countless ways that cats and dogs end up on our streets, and when left on their own their populations can explode. That's one reason the spaying and neutering of pets is so important.

The Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council will now have the authority to design, make, and then sell commemorative stamps in order to raise funds to be able to send money to parishes throughout the state for spaying and neutering of animals.

Thousands of abandoned animals end up in shelters each year. When overcrowding happens across Louisiana right now, the animals can be euthanized.

Jeff Dorsoan, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Louisiana says

So this stamp was created as a jump off of the duck stamp program, and we liked what it was doing. It was raising a lot of money from its constituents so we thought let's borrow the idea.

The Louisiana Duck Stamp Program raises money to help protect wetland habits.

The first stamp to come out will likely cost fifteen dollars, but then the Council will have a variety of stamps at different prices in order to save money. They plan to make collector edition stamps, the first editions, and more.

Officials expect that it will take a year for the program to get started. We promise that as soon as the program is started, we will update this story.

Also, did you know you can get a Louisiana License plate, a special edition that gives more to help the pet populations? Visit this website today to find out more.