Alley Cat Allies is providing emergency support and funds to animal welfare organizations right now to help cats and kittens in need during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including in the hard-hit state of Louisiana.
Particularly in the New Orleans area, Louisiana has seen COVID-19 cases rising at alarming rates. “Stay at Home” orders in the state have meant that many people are out of work and receiving no income. Those in financial distress need immediate assistance to care for their animals.
The Humane Society of Louisiana (HSLA) is one of the animal protection organizations to whom we have given an emergency grant to help distribute lifesaving resources for cats in some of the U.S. communities most impacted by the spread of COVID-19.
“Our phone, regrettably, is blowing up with emergencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Jeff Dorson, executive director of HSLA. “People are low on food or are now ill, so the distribution of Alley Cat Allies’ emergency grant was perfectly timed.”
With our emergency funding, HSLA immediately launched programs and services to care for cats in the greater New Orleans area throughout the coronavirus emergency. Among them are animal food assistance programs for community cat and indoor cat caregivers, especially those most affected by the COVID-19 virus. This includes home deliveries of cat food to people who are self-isolating.
Our emergency funding is also helping HSLA provide veterinary support for cat caregivers and low-income families who need urgent help for their cats.
Thank you @alleycatallies for providing us with a disaster relief grant for cats in need. We are extremely grateful and will be posting info about ways we're helping kitties and other animals during the crisis #HumaneLA #LouisianaStrong #thankyoualleycatallies pic.twitter.com/BYNY17AnqI
— Humane Society of Louisiana (@HumaneLA) March 27, 2020
Alley Cat Allies and HSLA’s coronavirus pandemic response strategy includes drive-through animal food banks. At one such food bank held at Zeus’ Rescues in New Orleans, HSLA gave out more than 80 bags of cat food to the caregivers of some of the biggest community cat colonies in the Jefferson and Orleans parishes.
Update from the Humane Society of Louisiana: our staff and volunteers continue to deliver cat food to cat caregivers in need during this COVID-10 crisis. Thanks to a generous grant from Alley Cat Allies, the nation's premier cat advocacy organization, we are able to purchase and deliver cat food to those impacted by the coronavirus in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The public is also invited to attend our next cat food drive-through event, which will be held at Jefferson Feed and Seed, on Jefferson Highway, this upcoming Friday, April 10th, from 11 am – 3 pm. #ThankyouAlleyCatallies!!!
Posted by Jeff Dorson on Monday, April 6, 2020
According to HSLA, some local caregivers feed community cats in several different locations, so they can go through multiple 25-pound bags of cat food in just one week. These caregivers desperately need a consistent source for supplies to continue the care and feeding to which the cats have grown accustomed. Alley Cat Allies’ emergency support is for compassionate people like them, who are committed to helping cats during this devastating crisis.
Keep watching alleycat.org/Coronavirus for more updates on our COVID-19 response, and for more stories out of Louisiana and other states receiving Alley Cat Allies’ emergency support.
Update from the Humane Society of Louisiana: we thank our volunteers for helping us distribute hundreds of pounds of cat…
Posted by Jeff Dorson on Saturday, April 4, 2020