“Texas has helped us so many times in the past, and we’re doing everything we can to assist them,” said Mike Strain, Commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
Harvey took its toll on Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. Commissioner Strain said that is why officials are doing what they can to make things a little easier.
“The predominance of pets we have in our shelters are actually from Texas. We’re evacuating people from Texas, We do have a station in Texas. We’re bringing people into the Burton Coliseum in Alexandria. We’re also receiving people from Alexandria. I think we have 97 buses that are bringing people from Texas to Alexandria,” explained Strain.
The Commissioner said the state is sheltering around 300 pets from Texas.
“We’re going to pick up another 97 pets today from the Burton Coliseum. We have specially-made and designed tractor trailers for that. We pick these animals up, and we transport them, and the owners go follow them. So, we will shelter the animals with their owners at the same location,” explained Strain.
The goal is to keep furry family members with their loved ones during this time.
“These people are very, very stressed. Their pets are stressed, and so the mental well-being and the stress levels are improved when the people can be out there walking their pets and be with their pets, and they know that their animals are safe and we maintain that companion animal bond,” concluded Strain.
Thousands upon thousands of animals have been displaced since Harvey according to reports. If you would like to help, you can click here.