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Shelter asks public to foster animals during 'stay at home' order; receives overwhelming response

4 years 4 days 9 hours ago Monday, March 23 2020 Mar 23, 2020 March 23, 2020 8:36 PM March 23, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- Animal shelters like the Companion Animal Alliance will be closed to the public due to the governor's stay at home order beginning Monday, March 23.

The Companion Animal Alliance put out an SOS asking for locals to open their homes and hearts to animals in need as shelters will be closed for at least three weeks.

Monday morning, the public answered that call for help. After being open for just one hour, the CAA compiled a list of 50 people waiting to get inside to see the animals, some calling with hopes of offering a temporary home.

"We're here to pick up a dog and we're going to foster it for 4 to 6 weeks while we're at home,” said Taylor Blanchard.

With 127 adoptable dogs, director Jill Sergio was confident they would get most, if not all of them, into temporary homes. She was right.

"It’s been amazing. We put the call out to our social media pages around 4:30 p.m. yesterday. We got in over 150 emails in a period of hours," said Sergio.

With the demand so high, they still have to comply with the governor's recommendations for safety. Only 15 people allowed in at once. 

"We are still trying to maintain social distance and keep the health and safety of our staff,” said Sergio.

For the people on the list, they say it is well worth the wait.

"Looking forward to just having a little buddy to snuggle with and walk around with and play with,” said Blanchard.

The shelter received an overwhelming response from the community as dozens of pets were taken in. They posted on social media Monday evening, "We feel grateful to say that at this time we no longer need extra foster families."

WBRZ reporter Bess Casserleigh posted to Twitter Monday afternoon to share the good news, announcing all 127 pets were fostered in just one day.

While the CAA will be closed until April 12, they will still be accepting emergency intakes, such as animals that are sick, injured, dying or a threat to the public.

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