Local surrenders increase 93 percent this year
With the help of charities and grant programs, the St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter celebrated a milestone: all adoptable animals in its care found homes by May 7.
Since January, the shelter flew 47 pets on private planes to new homes across the country with the support of Greater Good Charities, a nonprofit that partners with shelters to move at-risk animals into adoptive homes and rescue groups.
The shelter also completed 60 local adoptions since January. Each Friday, the shelter sends unadopted cats to one of its six Petco partner stores for adoption.
But the shelter’s empty kennels may not last long.
So far this year, surrenders of pets to the shelter increased by about 93 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Dr. Jena Troxler, the animal shelter supervisor.
In the first five months of 2025, the shelter had taken in 41 pets due to being unwanted. This year, the number jumped to 79. The number of cats surrendered to the shelter increased 188 percent this year, while dog surrenders increased 25 percent.
“We do have better public visibility with cats in Petco stores seven days per week to get those cats into new homes, and have stronger spay and neuter efforts, but even conveying to residents that the cats they feed must be fixed can be a challenge,” Troxler said.
The shelter is currently caring for several animals while preparing them for adoption, including puppies from an unwanted litter.
“Our goal is to not just take in babies, but address root issues of homelessness, which is educating children that pets are family forever and pushing spay/neuter in the community,” Troxler said.
A variety of grants have helped the shelter increase spay and neuter services by 2.5 percent this year.
Troxler said the animals in the shelter’s care are leaving the shelter faster than animals are staying in care. The shelter focuses on keeping animals healthy and transferring them to strong partnership organizations for adoption.
“Our resident pets leave rapidly through multiple channels, and our goal is to function more as a transition hub rather than long-term housing,” she said. “Our average stay for a pet in our care for adoption is 10 days.”
One of the shelter’s final recent adoptions was Bella, a Malinois mix, who arrived at the shelter when she was a puppy.
“She is a great dog, has great manners, and is a staff favorite,” Troxler said. “She attended school events with us and loved every minute.”
Bella’s first adoption ended when she was returned to the shelter less than a year later. The shelter staff hope she has finally found her forever home.
“It was such a joyful moment for our staff and volunteers to take a pet who was such a good dog all-around and see her go to a family after coming back to the shelter was such a heartwarming moment,” Troxler said.
Residents can see adoptable pets in real time on Adopt-A-Pet.com.