Jefferson Parish is becoming the model for other animal control programs, which is quite a turn around for an area that about a decade ago saw nearly 25,000 stray animals brought into the shelter a year, according to Jefferson SPCA officials.  This was the home to some of the worst stray animal problems in the country, in part due to the climate, which is very hospitable to these former pets.  

But also due to lack of education on the part of residents.

Jefferson Parish now has one of the most progressive spay/neuter programs in the country according to Debra Miller Yenni, vice president of the Jefferson SPCA.  She says this is the group that other organizations are now trying to emulate. 

Yenni says pre-Katrina they were destroying as many as 18,000 animals a year in Jefferson Parish.

Officials say for 2011 that number dropped to near 6,000, while in 2010 7,926 animals were euthanized.

The low cost, and sometimes no cost program is 3 tiered and is paid for by the parish rabies program.   It's available to all qualified Jefferson residents and very little, if any, paperwork is required.

Click here for the Jefferson SPCA website for the fix a canine or fix a feline program.

This program tries to make it as easy as possible for residents to get their pets "fixed" and face as few roadblocks as possible.