By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Nearly everyone has seen the commercials. Mournful strains play in the background as sad and often abused animals stare into the camera.

And everyone who has seen these commercials has their own way of reacting to them. Some ignore them while others find the emotions too overwhelming and change the channel.

But then there are the special few who find it in their hearts to actually act on the problem.

East St. John Elementary School teacher Traci Musso is one of those people.

Musso has been fostering dogs for about four years now. Following Hurricane Katrina, she took in a stray, but when a friend of hers adopted the animal, Musso said her own pet — a yellow lab — seemed lonely.

Since then, her dog has been kept company by a full slate of other fosters, three of which have become full-time residents. Musso said this has only left room for one foster at a time in her already overcrowded home.

While working with the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina at the Lamar-Dixon Center, Musso saw the problem of strays first hand. “That’s where you kind of saw where the problem was — with the overpopulation,” she said.

Since then, Musso has been a regular visitor at the St. John Animal Shelter, where she takes pictures of the dogs that are up for adoption.

“There’s so many cute and well-behaved pets there,” she noted.

According to Gerard Trigo of the St. John Animal Shelter, the general public can come view the animals there between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The adoption fee is $100 for kittens and puppies and $130 for adult dogs and cats. The fee covers spaying or neutering as well as a range of medical tests and shots. Animals also get a microchip ID at no extra charge.

Fostering is another option for those who are unable to or unsure of taking on the responsibility of full-time animal ownership.

For more information, contact the St. John Animal Shelter at 985-651-7387.

To check out some of the photos Musso has taken recently, visit her blog at discardedpets.posterous.com.