Shreveport City Council Votes to Make Spaying and Neutering Pets Mandatory – Should Lafayette Follow?

According to reports, the Shreveport city council has voted on an ordinance that will now make it mandatory to spay and neuter cats and dogs in the city. Parish funds will reportedly cover the cost of the procedures, but the joint effort with Caddo Parish now leaves us to wonder if the people of Lafayette would welcome a similar ordinance.

Reports from KTBS say that it was a unanimous vote by the Shreveport city council that has set an ordinance into action which now requires dogs and cats in the city to be sterilized. The vote has allowed the city to join with Caddo Parish in their program to continue spaying and neutering dogs and cats in the area.

The program has slowed the intake of animals into local shelters and has also put a dent in the euthanasia of animals who can no longer be held, per reports. Veterinarian Dr. Andrea Everson was quoted in the report saying, "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".

Recently, Acadiana area shelters offered free adoptions to those willing to take in pets. The goal of lightening the load on local shelters has been an on-going challenge for those who take care of stray and unwanted dogs and cats around the Lafayette area.

With those who adopted animals being reimbursed for the fees, hopefully there were lots of furry friends who found their forever homes.

Still, there are many shelters across Louisiana that simply cannot take in any more animals. The overpopulation comes with unfortunate results for those dogs and cats that never get adopted. Shreveport and Caddo Parish hope to address that issue with this ordinance.

Shreveport City Council Votes to Make Spaying and Neutering Pets Mandatory

See the Facebook post from Love Shreveport-Bossier with details below.

There are quite a few exceptions to the ordinance, which you can see above, but as you can see by the primary penalty for violating the ordinance - the city is taking this issue very seriously.

Should Acadiana area parishes consider similar ordinances? Let us know in the comments.

You can see what some from KSLA News 12's comment sections have to say on the topic via the below post.