SPCA begins cutting off services

Katie Moore / Eyewitness News - Video

NEW ORLEANS -- The Louisiana SPCA started discontinuing animal control services for the city of New Orleans Monday, and the group now says they'll stop taking strays from the public on Friday.

It's the latest in a controversial battle over how the city will provide animal control services without their 60-year partners.

From animals surrendered by their owners to strays to abused animals to animals that have bitten someone, the Louisiana SPCA has taken them all, unable to turn any away because of the group's contract with the city of New Orleans.

“Since October, we've had 500 stray animals brought to the shelter by the public,” said LA-SPCA Communications Director Katherine LeBlanc.

In October, the SPCA stopped going out to retrieve strays, saying the city stopped funding animal control.

But since they decided not to submit a proposal to the city to continue the contract for $300,000 less then they had wanted, the SPCA will now stop taking strays all together.

“We asked the city if they would like for us to extend our services through January, the end of January, in order to assist in that transition period. We have not heard back from the city about that transition period,” LeBlanc said.

Many animal rescue organizations are concerned about what will happen when the SPCA is no longer taking in strays, especially since they have limited kennel space.

“In the past couple of months, we've been inundated with requests for help with stray dogs, with dogs that people can't keep any more,” said Ken Foster, founder of the SULA Foundation, a group that rescues pit bulls and promotes the responsible ownership of them.

“The city seems to think that the police have been handling the problem all this time. And the police say they've handled 12 cases in the past few months. That's about how many calls I get a day,” Foster said.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu's Press Secretary Ryan Berni said Monday that the administration is working hard on a new arrangement for animal control services. However, animal activists are still concerned because the city doesn't even own a shelter to house animals.

The SPCA owns both their new building on the West Bank and the flooded building on Japonica Street, not to mention all their equipment.

“They want to do the job for about half the average cost in the united states per capita. And yet they're gonna have to build a shelter, or rent a shelter,” Foster said.

Rescue groups said they understand the city will enter into a "cooperative endeavor agreement" with the newly-formed group Humane Society of New Orleans.

Berni wouldn't confirm or deny that, but said they are working hard on coming up with a transition plan that they'll announce "soon."