Five parishes have come together for a collaborative initiative to address Louisiana cats still impacted by Hurricane Ida. The first regionally coordinated effort to address animal welfare, this project called “Operation Whiskers” is designed to:

• Rescue both owned and unowned cats still impacted by this devastating storm.
• Reunite lost cats with their owners, as our priority.
• Rehome cats that were once pets but cannot be reunited due to the impact of Ida.
• Return sterilized and ear-tipped community cats through extensive TNVR efforts, to include multiple large-scale events.

Within the first month of the project, over 1,000 cats throughout the five-parish region have been impacted and 1,200 or more are expected to be impacted over the next six to eight weeks. 

Hurricane Ida’s recovery continues months after attention has moved away from south Louisiana. Working together, the shelter directors and grassroots community organizations from Jefferson Parish, Lafourche Parish, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, and Terrebonne Parish created a vision for a regional feline response initiative. The intent is to get displaced cats back home and to their families and stabilize the number of stray cats before the impending cat population explosion that happens every spring in Louisiana. 

This initiative was made possible by the support of BISSELL Pet Foundation, Petco Love, IFAW, Greater Good Charities, Tomahawk Live Trap, and Tru Catch Traps.  Regional animal welfare partners Bayou Country Animal Foundation, Trap Dat Cat, ARNO, and Friends of Terrebonne Animal Shelter provided volunteers and support for the events thus far in Terrebonne Parish.

If residents of any of the five mentioned parishes see stray cats in their neighborhood, they should contact the proper local animal welfare organization, or fill out the trapping request form at louisianaspca.org/whiskersform. Contact information for each shelter is as follows: 

• Jefferson Parish- (504) 349-5111
• Lafourche Parish- (985) 446-3532
• Orleans Parish – (504) 368-5191
• Plaquemines Parish – (504) 368-5191
• Terrebonne Parish- (985) 873-6709

For more information about the multi-parish initiative or how to get involved visit louisianaspca.org/whiskers. 

Please contact the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter at (985) 873-6709 or animalshelter@tpcg.org for additional information.       

Additional Information

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• Press Release