Julie Comeaux adopted one-month-old "Jim Bob" at the Iberia parish animal shelter two weeks ago. She says he was suffering from parvo, a deadly intestinal infection.
"The animals at the shelter are under a lot of stress and it is present at the shelter. We can't say if they got it there or came in with it, but t's definitely showing up there," said Comeaux.
Parvo is highly contagious. She says a group of volunteers has offered to vaccinate the animals, but she says shelter managers turned them down.
"They're not open to having volunteers come in and make an effort to change things," said Comeaux.
The volunteers say they want to see changes at the shelter, like hiring a full-time manager and promoting the adoption program on social media.
"We have a low adoption rate out of the shelter. If there's 1200 animals taken in a year only 60 get adopted," she said.
Shelter director, Michael Stockstill says he understands the group's concerns and is willing to help, but can only do so much with the budget that's allocated.he says there are two full-time managers at the shelter and rescue groups are always welcome to come in and help find homes for the animals.
"It's a matter of finding the dollars to make necessary changes and to satisfy concerns, if the council wants to expand the program for some of the issues and concerns, it's up to the council," said Stockstill.
The shelter runs on a $300,000 budget. Stockstill says he will present all the issues to the council tomorrow night. He'll let council decide whether they want to increase the budget or not.