Tails are wagging in Baton Rouge.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control and Rescue Center recently released statistics that show the rate of animal adoption is up and euthanasia has gone down.
According to a news release from Animal Control, 1,766 animals were adopted in 2010, up from 1,514 in 2009.
While adoptions went up, the number of euthanized animals went down with 1,115 dogs and 469 cats euthanized in 2010 — a 29 percent decrease from 2009.
One reason for the decrease in the rate of euthanasia could be local organizations that proactively collect animals from Animal Control and keep them until they’re adopted.
Peggy Polk, president of Project Purr Baton Rouge, said the group’s goal is to save as many cats as possible from being euthanized in shelters.
Polk said the organization has taken more than 640 cats from Animal Control since it was started last May.
Polk said she wasn’t shocked by the statistics in the news release.
“We’re encouraged but not surprised,” she said.
Polk said Project Purr holds adoption events every day at its location in the Mall of Louisiana.
She explained Project Purr has two programs — rescue, foster, adopt for cats pulled from shelters; and trap, neuter, return for feral cats.
Polk said Project Purr began neutering and returning feral cats to their original locations because killing them was inhumane and ineffective.
Polk said volunteers catch feral cats, spay or neuter them and vaccinate them for rabies, then put the cats back where they found them.
Polk said so far the group has sterilized more than 600 cats in the Baton Rouge area, which equates to prevention of the birth of 60,000 kittens in a seven-year period.
Susan Trahan, a Project Purr volunteer and foster owner to several cats, said she has placed 11 cats in loving homes since she first began working with the group two months ago.
Trahan said she got involved with Project Purr because she’d been doing something similar on her own.
“I had 17 cats. Some were sick, some with one eye. I was doing my own rescue thing,” she said. “And then I got involved with Peggy.”
Malinda Chesne, a Yelp!BR volunteer, said the organization is similar to Project Purr in that volunteers pull dogs from Animal Control shelters.
Chesne said most dogs in shelters are held for six to 14 days before being put down.
Chesne said the group vaccinates and spays or neuters each dog before finding it a home.
She said volunteers have pulled about 700 dogs from shelters since Yelp!BR first started.
One organization working to make a difference that doesn’t show up in the statistics is local group Cat Haven.
Bob Citrullo, executive director of Cat Haven, said the organization is different from those like Project Purr and Yelp!BR.
“It’s a good thing, what they’re doing,” he said. “But we do our part to stop it before it gets there.”
Citrullo said the organization, which was founded in 1999, accepts pets from owners rather than collecting them from shelters.
He said offering a reliable place for owners to leave their pets ensures the animals’ health and wellbeing.
“Once they’re in shelters, they get in that high-stress environment, and their immunity goes down,” he said. “We’ll hopefully offer the public a healthier, more socialized animal.”
Citrullo said the organization also takes in stray cats, but volunteers are more cautious about them than those surrendered by their owners.
“When someone brings in an animal that has nowhere else to go, they know they’ll be safe,” he said.
Citrullo said the shelter has adopted out more than 5,000 cats since it was started in 1999.
Citrullo said he believes the group’s progress will continue.
“I know we can do more,” he said.
 
—-
Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]