Each day 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. As a result 4 million animals are euthanized in shelters every year because there are no homes for them.

In 2009, the Ouachita Parish Animal Shelter in West Monroe, Louisiana took in 9,056 animals.  6,650 of them were put to death.  Adoption and rescue programs save the lives of very few of them but over the last 7 years, it has become very clear that we cannot adopt our way out of this epidemic. PAWS of Northeast Louisiana has operated a Low Income Spay/Neuter Assistance Program and an Animal Shelter Rescue Program since our inception in 2003 and the number of dogs and cats being put to death in our area is still at an unacceptable level.

Nancy Burnet, Executive Director of Bob Barker