TO THE CONCERNED CITIZENS OF CALCASIEU PARISH REGARDING TRAPPING STRAY DOGS & OTHER ANIMALS

We join in your concern about the stray animal population in your area. The
Calcasieu Parish Animal Services & Adoption Center Officers are attempting to assist you in removing these animals from your property. To do this successfully we must ask your cooperation.

Trapping animals through the use of "Humane Box Traps" has proven to be the most efficient and effective method to capture stray animals that cannot be caught otherwise. Wild dogs (feral), cats & wild animals are shy around humans and will rarely allow themselves to be cornered for a routine capture. They run into woods and under houses to hide and escape capture even after being tranquilized. Humane Box Traps work because they can be used when no humans are around to frighten the animal. 

Animals will not enter a trap if that animal is being fed otherwise. We encourage citizens to feed and water abandoned domestic animals when they first show up to make them friendly so we can pick them up. However, after an animal has been chased off by humans, had items thrown at it and otherwise has learned to survive on the edges of human dwellings, they are more difficult to get close to and traps are the only means of capture we have available. 

Therefore, when a trap is being set please, DO NOT FEED THE ANIMAL elsewhere. (Clean up the area after your own pets have eaten) The trap should be baited with food and placed in a cool, covered area that provides some protection to the animal. Hungry animals will enter the traps for food.

If the dog you are trying to capture seems aggressive, NEVER try to tie it up because you may be bitten in the process. Don't yell at it or try to scare it away.....you are merely making it go to someone else's property to bother them AND MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT TO CAPTURE. 

Please understand that chemical capture is not a satisfactory option for capturing stray and wild animals. There are many risks involved in tranquilizing animals and it is used only as a last resort and in life and death situations. Wooded areas almost always insures that after the dog is injected with a dart it will run into the woods or under a house and be lost. THERE ARE NO TRANQUILIZING AGENTS AVAILABLE THAT WILL PROVIDE INSTANT KNOCKDOWN WITHOUT RISKING KILLING THE ANIMAL. Don't always believe what you see on TV!!

Our Animal Services Officers are professionally trained and proficient in the use of capture equipment. However, animals are unpredictable. There is no perfect solution or instant result in animal capture techniques. The Officers will make every attempt to handle your problem in the most efficient but "HUMANE" manner possible. All of us have to keep in mind that time and patience usually provides the best results.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

THE CALCASIEU PARISH ANIMAL SERVICES & ADOPTION CENTER