Who CAAWS is

The Capital Area Animal Welfare Society (CAAWS) is a private, all volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization devoted to the prevention of animal suffering and animal overpopulation. Our primary function is to place animals into permanent, responsible, loving homes and to pursue educational programs and circulate information to the general public in an effort to reduce pet overpopulation.

Meet the board

CAAWS is governed by a board of Directors

How CAAWS got started

CAAWS was founded in August 1979 and is the oldest local humane organization.  CAAWS was founded by Holly Frederick Reynolds, the mother of the modern humane movement in Louisiana and the founder of such other important Louisiana humane groups as:
    St. Tammany Humane Society  www.sttammanyhumanesociety.org
    Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates  www.colaa.org
To the present time, Holly Reynolds continues to guide and inspire our work.

How CAAWS does it

We receive no  government funding and are supported by private donations and our own fund raising efforts. CAAWS is run solely by unpaid volunteers and 100% of the funds received goes toward helping animals. Our major fundraising events include the annual Mardi Gras Krewe of Mutts dog parade and the Christmas Santa CAAWS professional pet photo event.

CAAWS has approximately 100 volunteers that work in various areas that it takes to run CAAWS on a daily basis. Our volunteers can be found everyday caring for animals in their home, photographing and videoing animals for adoption, performing shelter maintenance and cleaning, purchasing and stocking supplies, doing clerical work, returning phone calls and emails, making public appearances with adoptable pets, visiting nursing home patients with their pets, performing educational presentations to children, fund-raising, assisting with ongoing Katrina New Orleans feeding stations, assisting in a dog training program at a local juvenile facility, assisting and educating the community in spay/neuter efforts, and working on special events just to name a few.

What CAAWS does

• Finds loving homes for the animals we bring into our adoption program.
• Places adoptable pets in foster homes until a permanent home can be found.
• Promotes the spay/neuter of pets through our own program and by offering discount certificates for spay/neuter procedures.
• Brings animals to retirement/nursing homes for visits.
• Educates students about responsible pet ownership.

How you can help

It takes two things to keep CAAWS going, money and volunteers, and we can always use more of both. If you'd like to volunteer we have several ways you can help so you're sure to find something that's right for you. If you would like to support CAAWS with a financial donation we have several options available including becoming a member of CAAWS

.If you would like to find out more about becoming a volunteer please click here

If you would like to learn more about making a financial contribution please click here.

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