Hurricane Katrina

Help Hammond Animals Get To No-Kill Shelters

Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control
15487 Club Deluxe Rd  /  Hammond, LA 70403
985-543-0215, tpac@tangipahoa.org
after hours: 985-429-1877, Betz Pittman
View Animals: Tangipahoa Animal Shelter

Melinda Plasse, 518-527-2772  ~  When my associates and I visited this shelter on 5/1/06, there were about 70 new puppy arrivals that day. Each day they get similar numbers at their doorstep. We must transport these animals to no-kill locations elsewhere in the country. Tangipahoa's population has risen 40% from an influx of former 9th Ward and New Orleans East residents. Their pets now run free, or were surrendered due to no-pets landlords. I estimate the shelter's annual intake has doubled to 5,000 animals.

Hammond Shelter Needs:

• Portable kennels for outdoor set-up.
• Money for meds. Shell gas cards for transports.
• People to adopt and foster.
• VISA/Mastercard donations to Lucy Pribbenow's account at Hutchinson Animal Clinic to sponsor health care that enables animals to leave the state.
• Petco and Petsmart gift cards for shipping crates.

Email Melinda Plasse. In email state:

1. From your chosen animal's shelter ID photo: number, time/date, caption, description.
2. Criterion that would prompt you to not take animal.
3. Imperative, or we can't reply to foster/adopt request:
   full name  /  street address, state, zip code
   phone numbers  /  email address
4. State: I agree to surrender this animal back to Melinda Plasse if I can no longer keep the animal.
5. Contact Melinda at Hutchinson Animal Clinic in Tangipahoa Parish: 985-748-9160 to donate $40 for heartworm test, rabies vac, health certificate required to cross state lines.

Post-Katrina Conflicts And Rescue Go On

April 2006 Animal People, Editor Merritt Clifton, Baton Rouge  ~  A Louisiana source involved in undercover law enforcement against illegal animal fighting alerted ANIMAL PEOPLE late on February 21, 2006 that state attorney general Charles Foti had begun investigating Humane Society of the U.S. fundraising and expenditures in connection with Hurricane Katrina.

Named the lead agency for animal relief by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, HSUS raised more than $30 million for Katrina aid, and deployed some 200 disaster workers in Sep and Oct 2005. HSUS confirmed the report within 24 hours, but Foti's office said nothing until spokesperson Kris Wartelle acknowledged the "basic beginning of an inquiry" to Robert Travis Scott of the New Orleans Times-Picayune on 3/16. "She said Foti has made no accusations of wrongdoing, and declined more details," Scott wrote.

"There's no question that cockfighters, hunters, and others in Louisiana are constantly looking to damage our credibility," HSUS president Wayne Pacelle told ANIMAL PEOPLE on February 22. "Since they cannot compete with our message that cockfighting is cruel, they attack the messenger."

"HSUS welcomes the opportunity to document our Katrina-related expenditures," added vice president of communications Nick Braden. "We have spent or committed upward of $20 million, and are certain to spend millions more in Mississippi and Louisiana in the foreseeable future."

"We have been careful not to liquidate all of the assets in a matter of months," Braden said, "because this situation requires a long-term commitment to help the animals and to rebuild the animal care capacity in the Gulf region. We will continue to update our list of expenditures and commitments related to Katrina relief at our web site," Braden promised.

The HSUS web site as of February 22, 2006 listed "$8 million committed to direct Katrina expenses, $1 million for ongoing field projects in Louisiana and Mississippi, $5 million committed to a Katrina reconstruction fund, $2 million provided or committed to agencies that have helped rescue, shelter, or reunite Katrina animals, $1.5 million committed to reunion efforts, $1 million committed to spay and neuter programs, $500,000 spent on disasters that have hit since Katrina, and $1.5 million committed to grow HSUS staff." Itemized lists of activities under each heading did not include a breakdown of costs.

The posted sums for many projects differed from those given to Scott of the Times-Picayune. Scott's breakdown included "$5.5 million on direct operations, $7 million in reconstruction grants, $1.3 million in reimbursement grants to humane societies and rescue groups, $500,000 in partnership with Louisiana State University and the Dixon Correctional Institute toward an assessment for a permanent facility for animal care and sheltering, and $4.5 million to help get the Louisiana SPCA back on its feet."

Many smaller organizations were bitterly critical of HSUS for closing rescue centers at Gonzales, Louisiana, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in mid-October, after Louisiana state veterinarian Martha Littlefield quit accrediting out-of-state vets and asked outside relief groups to stand down.

Animal Rescue New Orleans, formed after the HSUS withdrawal, took in 2,000 animals during the last three months of 2005, then "trapped 300 dogs, over 200 puppies, and 610 cats," while maintaining 2,800 feeding stations, said cofounder Jane Garrison. "On February 1, we held a meeting in New Orleans to find residents to lead ARNO," Garrison emailed. "Nearly 200 people showed up. On February 15, ARNO shifted to new resident leadership," planning "to continue a food/water program for animals on the streets, rescuing dogs and cats, and neutering feral cats."

Companion Animal Network founder Garo Alexanian of New York City in mid-March 2006 made his third trip to Louisiana since Katrina, hauling nine tons of hay donated by Gif Foster of Foggy Bottom Farms in Geneseo, New York. "We delivered the hay to Gulfport, Mississippi, where there is little hay for farm animals, and also to Fireside Rescue in Carriere, Mississippi. They have two dozen rescued donkeys and horses, not to mention a dozen Katrina dogs," Alexanian told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

"Upon arriving in New Orleans, we were surprised to find that the packs of dogs we saw on previous visits had moved on from their previous hiding areas, as those areas now had lights, generators, mobile homes, work crews, etc. The animals had migrated into areas where there is more shrubbery and less activity. The week we had was not enough time to re-find the packs and trap them," Alexanian said.

"So we thought about taking animals from Louisiana SPCA's new shelter in Algiers [to adopt out back in New York], as we had heard rumors that they were euthanizing animals like crazy. They informed us that so far they had little need to euthanize," Alexanian continued.

"Louisiana SPCA put us in contact with St. Bernard Parish and Plaquamines Parish. Word got around to Jefferson, St. Johns, and St. Charles. Working with Southern Animal Foundation, Humane Society of Louisiana, and ARNO, we vetted all the animals and loaded them up. We had fitted the truck with over 40 cages borrowed from New York City Animal Control, the North Shore Animal League, and the Carolina Humane Society. We installed a 110-volt alternating inverter so we could run six box fans in the truck. We brought back a total of 43 animals, 34 dogs and nine cats," Alexanian recounted.

"Having realized that the need for the Gulf Coast in 2006 is transport,   transport, and transports," Alexanian added, "we have approached some of the same partnering groups about how to continue these transports once a month at least through the summer. The North Shore Animal League has stepped up to the plate again, and it looks like monthly transports will become a reality starting in April."


*Kinship Circle does not use the language of slavery to depict nonhuman animals. Owner, owned, it… are replaced with guardian, him/her, caregiven… or other language that doesn't define animals as things and property. Any failure to modify text is unintended.