New Orleans City Council members have raised concerns that the Louisiana S-P-C-A is not spending enough of its money sheltering the increasing number of abandoned animals in the city. Mayor Helena Moreno says her calls for city and SPCA officials finally were answered, with a meeting between the parties set for next week.
"Obviously, we've had some budget reductions," Moreno said in a video posted to social media on Sunday, adding that city leaders have been seeking a meeting with SPCA officials since March. "We've been trying to get in the room with the SPCA to figure all this out for quite some time."
SPCA CEO Ana Zorrilla says the city council's solution of shifting money within the organization to the growing problem is easier said than done.
"We have grants that are for very specific uses," Zorrilla said to WWL's Tommy Tucker. "Some folks think we have millions and millions of dollars available, but a great deal of those dollars are restricted and can't be used for anything outside that donor's intent."
Zorrilla says if the SPCA spends its available funds on what she calls the city's responsibilities, it'll prevent the SPCA from holding vaccine events, spay/neuter, and other preventative measures that keep animals out of the shelter.
"Going into this year, they cut the funding pretty dramatically," Zorrilla said. "If we don't address those, and those animals wind up on the street, and it is much more expensive to bring that animal into a shelter (and) provide the care than it is to solve the problem right there where the problem's happening."
Zorrilla says by the end of the year, the organization will pay four million dollars to provide the services it does.
"We are raising our donor dollars and supplementing the city of New Orleans," Zorrilla said. "We're in a tough spot there. Where do we use the donor dollars? Is it to fund the city's responsibility--because this is a municipal function--or are we focusing our donor dollars on the preventative work and saving the city more money instead of continuing the cycle of bringing more animals in?"
