BATON ROUGE - The Companion Animal Alliance of Baton Rouge on Wednesday issued a plea to area residents, asking them to spay and neuter their pets and to adopt when looking to add a pet to their home.

The group said that it's up against troubling math, as demonstrated by numbers recorded on Tuesday. On that day, CAA took in 36 dogs while adopting out only five. With cats counted as well, CAA accepted 55 animals in that single day.

"We are no longer encouraging, but URGING members of our community to spay and neuter your pets, adopt instead of shop, and advocate for animals in need in your community," CAA said in a social media post.

The organization is seeking emergency foster parents for this week to free up what it calls "critical space." Emergency fosters do not need to complete an orientation and can simply visit CAA and take a pet in need of a short-term home.

Those interested can reach out to CAA via the following email address: adopt@caabr.org