JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO)— The Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter has about 350 pets that are in need of forever homes.
“We only have a limited amount of kennels that we can have for animals. The issue we are currently seeing an abundance of strays and a lot of owners surrendering their pets,” Michelle Brignac, Director of JPAWS said.
Other issues are, “We’ve seen an uptick in people being evicted and not having the finances, so they can’t keep the animal. We are the last stop for pets when people are in a crisis,” she said.
JPAWS can take in between 80 and 90 animals a week, but they are only averaging about six or seven adoptions a week.
“When we run out of space that is an issue. We’ve been able to tread water up to this point but it is getting increasingly more difficult. We don’t want to have to start making decisions based specifically on space,” Brignac said.
They are currently facing a staffing shortage as well. They have nearly 30 jobs available.