Louisiana moves 79 pets from mobile shelter to prison shelter

BATON ROUGE, LA -- Louisiana says that 79 cats and dogs currently at a mobile shelter outside a Baton Rouge arena are being moved to a kennel designed as a disaster pet shelter in a state prison.

The Department of Agriculture and Forestry says in a news release that the state transportation department will provide daily bus rides from the human shelter to the pet shelter.

The 45 dogs and 34 cats belong to people staying at the Baton Rouge River Center.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Strain says the shelter 30 miles away at Dixon Correctional Institute has an associated veterinary hospital and is safer than the mobile shelter if more bad weather hits Baton Rouge.

He says his department will deliver pets to the River Center when their owners are ready to leave.