Beauregard Animal Control to Receive $250k Donation for New Facility From Bissell Pet Foundation

Playing and caring for the lost and forgotten dogs of Beauregard Parish. That’s how Deputy Krista West starts and ends her day seven days a week.

“It’s been my mission since I took over this position to find every dog a home and fight for every single one that comes through,” West said.

But conditions at the parish’s current animal control facility are anything but ideal.

“Our conditions are crude at best, you know,” Beauregard Parish Sheriff Mark Herford said. “We do the best we can with what we had.”

“It’s always that constant worry like, ‘Are we keeping these dogs cool enough?’ ‘Do they have enough fans?’” West said. “And I am so scared that whenever I go through my gates, am I going to find a dog that has fallen over with heatstroke.”

West serves as the parish’s animal control officer. It’s her commitment and love for animals that caught the attention of Cathy Bissell, co-owner of Bissell Homecare Inc. and founder of the Bissell Pet Foundation.

“And I was like Mrs. Cathy, ‘We need a facility,” Deputy West said. “I mean, that’s our biggest need is to provide these dogs with best care possible. And she was like, ‘Let’s do it’, and I’m like ‘what?’. So, I just started crying and she’s all excited, I am excited. And I still can’t believe that it’s happening.”

It’s what Herford calls a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the parish’s kennel – a donation of $250,000.

“There’s no way we could afford to do this without her generosity to us, and we certainly appreciate her more than we can say,” Herford said.

The donation will allow for much-needed renovations, including a new climate-controlled facility that will nearly double the number of dogs the kennel currently houses.

“This right here will provide a sterile environment for the dogs that come in – easy cleanup – AC and heated, which means they’re not going to be subjected to the cold winters that Louisiana provides or the extreme hot summers,” West said.

Construction is expected to start this summer.

https://www.kplctv.com/2022/02/16/beauregard-animal-control-receive-250k-donation-new-facility-bissell-pet-foundation/

Author: Donna Montgomery