Companion Animal Alliance and its four-legged residents may soon have a new home on the University’s campus.
The LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the shelter’s lease of seven acres of campus land June 19, according to a CAA newsletter. The shelter will be built near the LSU Veterinary School, which Director of Development Kathy Scherer said will benefit both the school and the shelter. She said the organization plans to begin construction in 2016.
Scherer said the organization will begin a fundraising campaign in the fall and donors have already pledged significant sums. She said that no fundraising events had been scheduled, but CAA would keep the University informed about the ongoing process.
CAA expects the new facility to be more expensive to operate, Sherer said, and the organization will have to reach out to a broader support base to fund its operations. The facility will house a slightly higher number of animals, but Scherer said she expects the number of required staff members to be similar to the current shelter.
CAA plans to build a “state-of-the-art” shelter to house its animals and partner with the Vet School to get assistance from veterinary students while helping them gain valuable experience with the animals. Scherer said the organization is thoroughly researching shelter designs to ensure it takes advantage of the opportunity and builds the best facility possible.
The organization’s leaders met with members of the Oregon Humane Society, which works with Oregon State University, in a model CAA wishes to emulate. This partnership is the only one in the country, Scherer said.
Vet School students are already active at the CAA shelter.
“We have a great relationship with Vet school students who do a two-week rotation and often return on their own time to help with spay and neuter surgeries,” Scherer said.
Scherer said the current shelter was built the better part of half a century ago and does not provide the appropriate environment for the organization.
“Being able to move our operations from where we are now to a more centralized and attractive environment will definitely help in our ability to draw a larger audience of adopters and supporters,” Scherer said. “The CAA staff and community members have been very resourceful in coming up with creative solutions,” and the new shelter’s design will “improve on the current one in every aspect.”
Scherer hopes to get undergraduate students involved in the adoption and caretaking programs the shelter provides its residents. CAA relies on volunteers to fill its ranks, and Scherer said she anticipates University students’ energy and enthusiasm will greatly enhance the organization’s programs. The group hopes having a large pool of young people nearby will be an advantage for recruiting volunteers.
CAA took more than 800 animals into its shelter in June, according to quarterly statistics published on its website. The shelter released more than 460 animals alive to rescues or new homes over that period. Scherer said the goal for the new facility is to take better care of the animals housed there, not to increase size or staff.
Scherer stressed CAA is a high-performing shelter. She said since 2011, when CAA assumed control of the facility from Baton Rouge Animal Control the rate of adoption in the shelter’s animal population has increased from less than 20 percent to more than 65 percent. She said 5,200 animals were adopted through CAA and its affiliate foster groups. Though the new facility will house more animals, Scherer said she hopes the real benefit of the shelter’s proposed location will be an uptick in adoptions and participation in foster care programs.