Cute dog and puppy pictures are placed in these clip art graphics that you can post on your blog, facebook, myspace, or other websites to help promote Spay and Neuter. Spay and Neuter is one of the best ways to help reduce the numbers of pets entering our animal shelters and dieing there.
Spay that girl!
Spay Her!
Spay Her!
Spay and Neuter!
Spay and Neuter!
Spay & Neuter!
Spay & Neuter!
Fix Me!
Right click on any of the above images to save them to your computer for uploading to your website.
Louisiana – Warning Leg Traps Can Trap Your Pets Too!
by Joni Solis (true account)
I want to let everyone know that in Louisiana people can set out inhumane leg hold traps for our wildlife and sometimes our pets can become their victims too.
I was walking four of my dogs yesterday evening (5:30 pm 3-10-2005), as I do twice a day, on my sister’s property which is right behind my property, when two of my dogs were caught in metal leg hold traps.
The first one caught was Gigit my 29-pound corgi/heeler mix. She screamed and screamed in horrible pain. I have never heard a dog scream so loud and for so long and with so much panic in her voice.
I ran up the trail trying to find her and see what had her. I knew it couldn’t be a snakebite. Then I saw her. She busted her mouth biting at the trap trying to free herself. She twisted and twisted around and around as she screamed. The steel jaws of the barbaric metal trap had slammed shut and were crushing her foot. Her eyes showed pure terror.
I tried again and again to free her from the trap but I knew nothing about how to go about doing that. I pulled at the chain that went into the ground but it didn’t come loose or even budge in the slightest.
My hands shook, my legs shook, I screamed for help. I dug at the chain with a stick and a rock. I tried to calm Gigit. Her blood specked the ground, my hands, and our legs. Tears blurred my vision. My other dogs circled around us whining. I screamed for help again.
I heard my mother’s voice. She was on her land not far away. She started to run down the trail towards me and I ran toward her. My dogs ran with me. Then we heard Lobo, my 95-pound German Shepherd screaming in pain. Now he too was caught in a leg hold trap right in the middle of our trail.
He was too frantic with pain and fear to try to help so we ran passed him to Gigit who was now not struggling. My mother tried to remove the trap from Gigit smashed foot but she couldn’t release her either.
Lobo’s screaming stop and he was running towards us. He had somehow twisted himself free from the trap within 2 to 3 minutes time! My mother took, Snippy, one of my small dogs that I had on a leash and went for help. I held on to Lobo’s collar and held BoBo my smallest dog in my arms as I talked to Gigit trying to keep her calm and not pulling on the trap. I felt so helpless unable to release her from this vicious torture device.
Gigit started to scream and pull at the trap again. Lobo frighten, pulled away from me and ran, but he didn’t run back up the trial or down the trail, he ran right through the heavy brush and blackberry thorns. I held BoBo and ran up the trail home hoping that I too wouldn’t step into a trap on the trail.
Getting Lobo and BoBo home safe I called the police begging for help and headed back to Gigit with a bowl of water. She was patting very hard but wouldn’t drink. Blood dripped into the water from her injured mouth.
My 17-year-old son, Felix, met me on the trail and held Gigit while I worked a shovel around the trap’s chain. Then he took a turn with the shovel. The hole was about a foot deep but the chain was still not budging. Then I asked him to try to release her foot from the trap. With his first try the trap’s jaws gave just a bit and Gigit screamed and struggled.
I made a muzzle with her leash and held her tightly to me as he tried again, then once again.
On the third try he was able to get the trap’s mouth open enough for Gigit to pull her foot free. I bust out in tears and cried into her fur.
She was trapped for at least 30 minutes and I worried how badly she was hurt. Felix carried her home.
Photo of Gigit At Home
The police still hadn’t shown and I called them again. They acted like they could do nothing. My sister, Barbra, who was now here, got on the phone with the police and they told her they contacted Wildlife and Fisheries and someone would come out tomorrow to check the traps. I should have told them that it was my daughter caught in the trap not a mere dog (to them).
Where were the compassionate rescuers like they show on Animal Planet that zoom to help and risk life and limb?
I called the vet and she told me wash and ice down Gigit’s foot, and give her a baby aspirin, her rest, and bring her to the clinic in the morning. Gigit didn’t drink until 10:30 pm and then only a little. She moaned a little off and on and first seemed too hot and then too cold. I lay besides her on the bed.
Gigit on a wooded trail
(No I did not get a photo of Gigit in the trap, I would have if my mind had been clear enough to think about crabbing my camera)
At 5 am in the morning of 10-11-2005 after an almost sleepless night my mother, my sister, and I, went on the trail by the traps to await the trappers return. I brought along my digital camera and photographed the traps. As it grew a little lighter I spotted another orange streamer and looked for another trap.
My sister picked up a tree branch and poked at the ground that looked a little to smooth and clear. The hidden trap’s jaws slammed into the branch with a crunch.
We sat and waited the trappers’ return. At about 6:15 the eastern sky was beautiful with the morning sunrise.
Photo of the sunrise
Another trapped dog…
Photo of dog in trap struggling and chewing on the trap: dog in trap
I walked down the trail to photograph the other traps again since the sky was lighter now. While photographing the trap that had held Gigit the evening before I heard a scream and I thought it was a coyote trapped in a trap we had yet to discover.
I yelled for Barbara and ran down the trail towards the screams. It was dog, but not mine this time!
Leg hold trap
I am not strong enough to open this trap and had no idea how to do it if I was strong enough. I don’t think most people would know how to release their pet from a leg hold trap. And the trap in the photo below is called a live trap — meaning that it doesn’t have teeth and is meant to hold an animal for the trapper to take alive — alive to be sold to hunters to hunt down or train their dogs with.
leg hold trap
Bloodstained: 4 dog leashes, two pairs of pants, one sweater, two small towels, and two bath towels.
Thank you for reading my personal account of my dogs being caught by leg traps.
Notes of Warning: (Louisiana)
2008-2009 LOUISIANA TRAPPING SEASON
The trapping season will open STATEWIDE on November 20, 2008, and will close March 31, 2009. These dates have been set permanently for future years by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/licenses/trappers/
http://snipurl.com/sny70
With the right permit a trapper can set traps year round not just in the trapping season!
Your neighbors do not have to inform you that they are setting traps on their property.
Trappers do not always know property lines and can set traps on your property by mistake or intention. (This is what happened to our dogs and us.)
Louisiana children and young teens can trap by purchasing a $5 licenses. (Incentive to turn children into trappers!)
Fur Harvest: Trapping in Louisiana coastal wetlands generates approximately $2 million annually (LDWF 2004). http://dnr.louisiana.gov/crm/coastalfacts.asp
Leg traps are a cruel and inhumane way of trapping animals. They catch animals indiscriminately-meaning that the preferred prey target is not always the one that steel jaws of the trap slams shut on.
Many domestic dogs and cats are also trapped. Other “accidentally” trapped animals: Blue Jays, Owls, ducks, porcupines, flying squirrels, rabbits, and sometimes even endangered species, like eagles, and others. These “unwanted” animals are often killed and tossed or let free, many with painful and sometimes fatal injures.
Trapped animals suffer immense terror and excruciating pain for many hours and sometimes for days awaiting the trappers return. Sometimes they bleed to death, break their legs or joints or teeth in their frantic struggles, or chew off their foot or leg trying to free themselves. Leg traps are barbaric torture devices that need to be outlawed. We must demand an end to the use of leg traps — now!
Please post this email to other dog and cat welfare groups and on you website to help warn other dog owners that this could happen to them and their pets. And so people will want to put an end to trapping animals!
I would like to hear from anyone whose dog has been trapped.
Please visit the following website to learn more about traps… Ban Leg-Hold Traps Dot Com – www.banlegholdtraps.com
A non-profit society working to stop trapping cruelty, Fur-Bearer Defenders (Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals) is a registered non-profit society working to stop trapping cruelty and protect fur-bearing animals.
Please go check out their pets up for adoption! Why buy when these die – Adopt!
Please consider phoning them (+1-985-543-0215) and thanking them for posting their pets online where more people can view them 24/7! They have taken another step to saving more shelter pets. I see they have about 50 dogs posted right now — this is an amazing accomplishment. They have not posted on petfinder for over a year – so glad to see them back.
Please check over all their pets. They have many Labs and Lab mixes as well as some Rat Terriers, Heelers, Terriers, Chihuahuas, etc…
They nearly always have little house dogs and young puppies and kittens up for adoption as well as wonderful adult dogs for you to consider. You can find purebreds as well as mix breeds (wonderful mutts). Please adopt your next pet from an animal shelter.
TPAC Contact info:
Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control
Charles “Chip” Fitz – Director
15487 Club Deluxe Road
Hammond, Louisiana 70403
+1-985-543-0215
cfitz @ tangipahoa . org (please remove the spaces)
It is fast and easy to do; just write a quick message to a few people asking them to put an end to the killing of pets in gas chambers in Louisiana. All the info you need is right on this web page:
Phone calls are more effective so please also consider make a few quick phone calls.
NOTE: please do this with love in your hearts for these homeless animals. Love is more powerful than hate or anger.
If our shelter pets must die let it be in a more humane way.
Please pass this along and post it everywhere! Myspace, facebook, twitter, blogs, websites, local media! Together we can make a difference. Please take action today!
Like most of the people in our state I care about the pets I have and the homeless pets that end up in our city’s animal control facilities. I would like to see as many of these pets find new homes and leave the shelters alive. But until programs are put into place like low cost and no cost spay and neuter, foster care, offsite adoptions, evening hours, and volunteer programs (to name a few), I also know that the continual flood of animals entering the shelters means that animals will have to be killed.
But if animals are to be killed it should be in the most humane way — euthanasia by injection of sodium pentobarbital, or an alternate oral version of the drug correctly carried out. The use of gas in gas chambers to kill shelter animals needs to end now.
Governments are put into place to be of service to the people and if you did a poll you would find that most people would prefer that the animal control facilities do a much better job of rehoming homeless pets and if they must die then they wish that their deaths be as painless and free of stress as possible.
As a tax payer I do NOT want my tax money spent for needless animal suffering through the use of gas chambers when there is a more humane way. Since lethal injection is the method used in all veterinarians’ offices to end a pet’s life, and is recommended by all national humane organizations in the America as the most humane, least stressful, safest, and most cost effective it should be the only allowable method to kill pets in our state’s animal control system.
As public servants it is the duty of government officials to strongly consider the will of the public in all matters. Note that across America the outcry to do away with the gassing of shelter pets is growing ever louder. I am adding my voice to theirs and ask that you hear me.
I chose to be the voice of the voiceless and beg that the use of gas chambers be outlawed for the state of Louisiana.
“In this country tax-payers spend $1 billion dollars annually to pick up, house, and euthanize homeless animals. If only 5% of that total were allocated to spay/neuter programs, we could open 250 public, low-cost spay/neuter clinics across the country and sterilize more than $4 million animals each year.” – ryannewmanfoundation.org/news
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” – Albert Schweitzer
Help stop the gassing of shelter animals in the state of Louisiana
Some animal shelters in Louisiana still use the gas chamber to kill unwanted pets even though most people feel that it is much more inhumane than lethal injection.
You can help ban the use of gas chambers in Louisiana!
If there is one thing you do in the following days that can make a huge difference to the way shelter animals die in Louisiana, this is it. Until we can put a stop to the killing at lease let us join together and help make the killing more humane.
The dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens in the animal shelters deserve a kinder way to leave this earth. Please share this info with everyone you can. Even people without pets would like to see them suffer less. Please I am begging you to help.
– Joni Solis
I received the following email message on the gassing of pets in Louisiana:
A big Thank You to all who made calls, on behalf of the animals at Vermilion Parish Rabies Control. As most of you know, they really do not care about what is happening at this facility ~ their repeated comments were that they are abiding by the state law.
So this brought us to what we need to do next ~ WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE STATE LAW CONCERNING THE USE OF GAS CHAMBERS!
Call to Action: Send Messages to Louisiana State Officials on September 1st
I’m asking all of you, to once again, come together in unity and send messages to Louisiana State Officials that we need to ban the use of gas chambers, once and for all!! Please start thinking of what you’d like to express (please no profanity) and then wait until Tuesday, September 1st to send it. I think that if we all send it on the same day our outrage will be noticed! If any of you have friends in the media or press pass this on to them too! (post to your websites – facebook, twitter, myspace, petfinder site, etc…) We can’t continue “to not do anything”.
Sample letter to send: Please reword it for the most impact.
Dear State of Louisiana Officials,
There is an issue at hand that needs immediate attention, it is concerning the way in which we discard animals who are left homeless, for one reason or another, and end up in rabies control or animal shelters and killed by the use of a gas chamber.
Most of you know that animals bring so much to our lives~there are police dogs who serve, seeing eye dogs who give the blind their independence, therapy dogs who give hope to those who have none, and company to those who are homebound or elderly~and what do we do when they are homeless?
We toss them into a gas chamber, turn it on and then 20-30 minutes later we discard their bodies in a landfill. Have we lost sense of reality, and compassion, or are we so desensitized to what is happening?
A small rabies control facility in Vermilion parish has been killing animals in a chamber that is broken! They are having to use a screwdriver to keep the door shut, and the animals are having to endure two cycles to finally succumb to their death. IS THIS APPROPRIATE TO YOU? How many facilities are operating this way?
The animals can’t speak, so how do you know? I’m asking you to BAN THE GAS CHAMBER IN THE STATE OF LOUISIANA! If animals have to die, shouldn’t we do it with some compassion, don’t they at least deserve this? The injectable euthanasia is a faster, more humane way to let them go. While we strive for no killings at all, this is a better alternative and the cost is the same.
Clearly we have a choice, we do not have to torture animals in gas chambers. Louisiana can make a positive move on behalf of the animals, Please BAN THE GAS CHAMBERS!
Also remember the Attorney General- James Caldwell at AdminInfo@ag.state.la.us ; Secretary of State – Jay Dardenne at admin@sos.louisiana.gov ; Page Cortez at cortez@legis.state.la.us ; David Vitter at http://vitter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm ; Mike Michot at lasen23@legis.state.la.us ; Charles Boustany at la07ima@mail.house.gov ; Deputy Legislative Director at nicholas.cahanin@la.gov
Here are all of the emails in a row for easy copy and paste into an email (but it is better to send them one at a time and address them to each person). Also note that it has been found to be more effective to print out and send a paper letter by mail or make a phone call. Why? Because these require more effort on your part and the officials know most people will not go to this trouble — so it has more impact.
THERE ARE SO MANY YOU CAN CONTACT ~ please don’t stop now, make a call, or two, and send emails to BAN THE GAS CHAMBER!!!!!! PLEASE wait until Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 1st ~ Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 1st ~ Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 1st
~Let’s come together again in memory of Kiddo & Friends! They suffered unnecessarily………….surely we can spend a little time emailing for them?
Find and count yourself; I have seen these #’s:
14 states mandate injection
13 ban gas
These still use gas: LA, OH, AL GA, NC, IL, KY, MS, OK, SC, TX, WV (all small population states except TX).
I got this (typed) info last year, so may change.
Virginia has banned gas chambers, (search line says also NY and CA, but I can’t find that) http://www.animallawcoalition.com/gas-chambers/article/350
The cost analysis done by the Humane Society of the United States revealed:
Cost per animal with Carbon Monoxide is $1.323 per animal
Cost per year with Carbon Monoxide: $13,230
Cost per animal with Sodium Pentobarbital is $1.27
Cost per year with Sodium Pentobarbital is $12,700
The costs per year were based on euthanasia of 10,000 animals per year. All costs, including labor and supplies have been included. My source of information is the Humane Society of the United States Euthanasia Training Manual referenced from pages 127 – 129.
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” – Albert Schweitzer
Here is my (Joni Solis) email message to vermilionppj@yahoo.com, vermilionanimals@yahoo.com, vermilionanimal@yahoo.com, tjprejean@vppj.org,
lbroussard@vppj.org, pgaspard@vppj.org, cboudreaux@vppj.org, gbutaud@vppj.org, rmenard@vppj.org, kmeaux@vppj.org, edomingues@vppj.org, wtouchet@vppj.org, rdarby@vppj.org, ngranger@vppj.org, dhebert@vppj.org, cberaud@vppj.org, ctheriot@vppj.org
Date: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Subject: Rabies Control in Vermilion Parish, LA. — just know I care…
Rabies Control in Vermilion Parish, LA. — just know I care…
Just thought I should contact you and let you know that I care about the homeless animals in Vermilion and hope that you will see that people love pets and wish that you would do better and help them more. And yes it is possible to save more pets.
Other animal controls have learned to improve and save more pet lives. It can be done with leaders that believe it and work at it. Please consider the wishes of the people of your parish and know that improvement is possible with the will to do so. May one day you find this will.
– Joni Solis
I received the following email message as a reply to my emailed message to vermilionanimal@yahoo.com…
From: vermilionanimal@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Subject: setting the record straight
To whom it may or may not concern,
Brief Statement:
I am Melissa, the Director of Vermilion Parish Rabies/Animal Control for those that are unaware. I have been at my job for 4 months now and in light of the circumstances I wanted to give this brief statement and then continue with regular business.
I do not want anything to overshadow what has been accomplished at Rabies/Animal Control. We all love animals and show every animal that comes in the respect he/she deserves. We are all compassionate, caring and have a tough job. Our job is not easy and when rumors/falsehoods are put out there the only thing I can say is come talk to me and get the right message. We do not have an In-House adoption program but we do have an agreement with Animal Aid for Vermilion Area. Animal Aid has every opportunity to pick over the dogs and cats, they deem adoptable and have them pulled to their cages, that I have designated for that purpose. I have held dogs for them but it is their responsibility to make sure to inform me if there are any to be moved.(NOT my staff) In the future I want all adoptable animals to be pulled in writing.
We are finishing the room that will be used for Lethal injection. Scott has his certificate and I just got back from training on Aug 3 and 4 for my certification. We need an exam table and supplies.
The sink that was approved of for dish washing will be in tomorrow and now we can be more efficient at our daily duties. The building had so many projects when I first started that I am trying to get everything done but it will be at my pace since I am the one making sure it gets done.
When Mr. Jeff Dorson came in, it was under false pretences but when I finally got the truth from him I still gave him a transparent tour. If it had not been for the tour I gave him he would not have had any pictures. I was unaware that is was out to get the Police and he knew that. I showed him the things I liked, didn’t like and the improvements that I along with the Police Jury’s permission would take care of. Please don’t let the actions of an individual such as this affect your perceptions of our facility.
Please post a link to this web page to your facebook, twitter, blogs, petfinder site, and any other place on the Internet and spread the news by emails and egroups too! Here is the short link to this page: End Gas Chambers for Shelter Pets in Louisiana http://wp.me/pc4ch-5B
Racheal Sance, a pet rescuer sent me this writing in an email and I was so moved by it that I did a search for it online to see if I could post it to my blog. I found posted on House Rabbit Society’s website on this web page: http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/saying-goodbye.html I emailed them and received permission to repost it here. It is a sad story, but one we all need to read and pass on.
Adopt A Mutt!
The note from Racheal’s email: I’m not sure who Amy Espie is but I’ve experienced this so many times working at TPAC. It’s heartbreaking, if you put yourself in this persons shoes maybe you’ll see… maybe it’ll make just one person realize how terrible it is everyday for so many beautiful, intelligent, deserving but unwanted animals. And maybe if people stop to think they’ll see that this is in every shelter, tens of thousands of shelters all across our country every single day and even if just one person here and there decides to spay and neuter maybe we can save some lives…..
Sunday. A friend and I take our dogs for a run in the park. The late-afternoon sunlight is pure gold, and a fresh breeze rustles the tall grass. A family approaches us on the trail: a man, woman, and two small boys. They are accompanied by a large tan dog with the distended nipples of motherhood and an adorable pup who looks just like his mom. The pup pesters his mom, taking five steps for every one of hers. She patiently tolerates his rambunctiousness.
It’s a heartwarming scene that totally depresses me.
What has happened to me? I love dogs. I love puppies. And yet the sight of puppies makes me sad. Every time I see or hear of a litter of kittens or pups, I also see cages full of homeless ones and the bins full of dead ones at the shelter where I work.
Monday. It’s 8 PM, time to go home. I walk past the cages in the Stray Cat Room. A calico cat and her two kittens sit quietly on the shelf in their cage. The mother grooms one of the kittens. A pink card attached to the cage tells me it’s time to say goodbye to these three. I feel the familiar mixture of sadness, anger, and bitterness.
A huddled gray ball of fur in an adjoining cage catches my eye. In the farthest corner of her cage, a bedraggled cat hides her head under a sheet of newspaper. I peer between the bars. “Hi, Kitty,” I say softly. “Are you totally miserable? I don’t blame you.” I chatter on, more for my own benefit than for hers. I put some treats into her bowl and leave.
Tuesday. A small, frightened black rabbit is rescued from a cellar by one of our Humane Officers. That evening she gives birth to five babies. Four days later, when her stray period is up, the babies are injected with sodium pentobarbital. A few seconds later, they are dead. The mother is put up for adoption.
Gray Cat clings to her corner, still facing the wall. I notice that she’s eaten the treats I left, which encourages me. I talk to her again. “I know it’s hard to believe, but actually you’re pretty lucky. Decent food, a clean litter box, people who care about you; and, with a little luck, one special person to appreciate and adore you forever.” Gray Cat is not impressed.
Wednesday. I talk to the people in my dog-training class about spaying and neutering. “Of the ten million dogs and cats who are killed every year at animal shelters in the US, nearly three million are purebreds,” I explain. “And the other seven million had a purebred in their very recent past. Stand at our front counter any day of the week and you will hear the same stories again and again: ‘We’re moving’; ‘The landlord says no’; ‘He barks and the neighbors called the cops on us’; ‘She messes in the house.’ An expensive dog with a behavior problem is just as disposable as an all-American mutt.
“Spend a day at the shelter and you’ll also hear the repertoire of reasons people give for not having their animals spayed or neutered: ‘We want the children to experience the miracle of birth’; ‘Neutering is unnatural’; ‘It’s cruel’; “I wouldn’t want anyone to do it to me’; ‘My cat is from champion stock’; ‘We’ve already got homes lined up for all the babies.’ But try to explain these reasons to a loving, beautiful animal (or even an ill-tempered, homely one) whose time is up, who is receiving a death sentence when his only crime is that some human let him be born instead of facing the reality of the overpopulation disaster. I’ve never heard a rationalization that didn’t fade into nothing in the face of even one death.”
On my way out, I stop at Gray Cat’s cage again. “Hi, Gray C. Still memorizing that bit of wall, I see.” A miracle! She turns and looks at me. Her emerald eyes size me up. Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but she seems a little less frightened, her body a shade more relaxed. “Listen,” I tell her, “you’ve probably met some pretty unevolved humans out there. We’re not all like that. Give us another chance, okay?” She blinks dubiously. This is progress.
Thursday. The animal care technicians at the shelter are the bravest people in the world. I watch them scrub kennels and clean litter boxes. I see them take a moment to play with a kitten or hold a lonely pup. I hear them calm the frightened ones with a gentle word. And every now and then I force myself to witness what they must face every day. That same dog who they cared for, petted, and talked to must finally be given the only thing we have left to offer: a gentle, respectful death. What have we come to when the best we can do is to kill them kindly?
Jim puts a leash on the Labrador retriever. She cowers in the back of the kennel, tail between her legs. He tugs on the leash. She whimpers and crouches down lower. He kneels beside her. “It’s okay, pup. Don’t be scared.” She stops whimpering but won’t move. He scoops her up in his arms and carries her to the Euthanasia Room. She’s been at the shelter for two weeks. She’s so frightened that all she does is lie in the corner. No one wants her. Now she will die. Carol holds her while Jim shaves a small patch of fur from her leg. She is quiet and trembling. Jim continues to talk to her. He gives her the injection. She slumps onto the table. Carol carries her body to the Chill Room and adds it to the pile.
In the Cat Room, Gray Cat is sitting in her usual corner, but she’s not facing the wall today. The room is noisy. Adorable kittens fill row upon row of cages. Friendly adult cats come forward, asking for attention. I open her cage to give her a treat. “It isn’t fair,” I tell her. “You have every right to distrust people, but if you don’t act adoptable, how can you compete with all these other cats?” I reach my hand closer to her. I touch her. She lets me! I thank her.
Friday. At home, a veterinary clinic calls me to find out if I have room for another unwanted. The owners brought a young mini-lop in to be euthanized. Why? They’re moving out of state. They don’t want to take the rabbit. They haven’t found any friend who will take him, and they don’t want “a bunch of strangers” coming to their house to see the rabbit.
When I get to work, Gray C. is not in her cage. I look everywhere. I try not to be too hopeful. I tell myself, Don’t pursue it. I ignore my own good advice. I go to the Chill Room. She is there, in one of the bins, her body curled up against that of a terrier. I touch her, for the second and last time. Her body is getting cold. She is gone. I mourn her. But who will mourn the calico kitten underneath her, and the angora rabbit in the next bin? Who will mourn all ten million of them, one by one?
Please visit the House Rabbit Society website. Dogs and cats are not the only animal dieing in our animal shelters.
Governor Bobby Jindal Officially Proclaims 1st Annual Louisiana Week for the Animals March 21-29, 2009!
Louisiana Week for the Animals is an exciting statewide event created to celebrate and joyfully build awareness for the animals.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 11, 2009
(New Orleans, LA) Animal World USA is pleased to announce that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has officially declared 1st Louisiana Week for the Animals Saturday, March 21- Sunday, March 29, 2009. The special week will kick off Saturday, March 21 and will highlight the importance that animals play in our lives and bring communities together on behalf of the animals throughout the great state of Louisiana.
Louisiana Week for the Animals
This first statewide event is designed to celebrate and build awareness on behalf of all animals, as well as, recognize the organizations and citizens who support them. The LA Week for the Animals is bringing together animal shelters, rescue organizations, sanctuaries, businesses, students, musicians, artists, educators, community leaders, and caring citizens in an exciting week of community-building activities.
The fun-filled week will feature awesome pet adoption festivals and events, pet therapy in hospitals, school/art displays and activities, library story-telling and R.E.A.D. dog activities, blessings of the animals, book signing by the famed “Blue Dog” LA artist George Rodrigue, low cost spay and neuter events, Earth Fest, special law seminar at Tulane University and much more! All these events will shine the spotlight on the amazing animals and compassionate people who love them.
Precious lives which will be saved and communities will be transformed during this week with a wide variety of animal-related events and activities. A list of events are scheduled on the website calendar, and more are being added daily. If you would like to learn more, become involved or schedule an event, please call +1 877-454-0807 or visit the official website at http://www.louisianaanimals.org/
—end—
Events
Please visit and see the full list of events here: Louisiana Week for the Animals under the ‘Calendar of Events’ listing.
Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control (TPAC) (At this time TPAC is a high kill shelter. They do offer some of the animals up for adoption and work with pet rescues.)
Charles “Chip” Fitz – Director
15487 Club Deluxe Road
Hammond, Louisiana 70403
Phone: 985-543-0215
Fax: 982-230-0337 or 985-543-0215 (found two and not sure which number is the correct one)
Email: cfitz @ tangipahoa . org (please remove the spaces)
TPAC pets (9-2009) on petfinder.com at: http://tangipets.petfinder.com New Pet listing links. (Note that home page has not be updated in a long while.)
TPAC Videos:TPAC Shelter Pets 12 Videos PlayList on youtube (12 videos showing the dogs and puppies at TPAC. The person that took these videos seems to have quit making them as the last one is a month old now.)
Here is a list of blog postings on TPAC…(all of which are on TAAR’s blog)
TPAC seems be a participating shelter in some HSUS project…
The Humane Society of the United States – HSUS Improving the Lives of Gulf Coast Dogs and Cats: Participating Shelters
Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control Hammond, LA is listed as one of HSUS Participating Louisiana Shelters
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/disasters_press_room/archives/2007_disaster_response/gulf_participating_shelters.html or http://snipurl.com/dt0m7
TPAC also seem to be a member of The Louisiana Animal Control Association as I found this info… Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control; 15487 Club Deluxe Rd, Hammond, La 70403; (work) 985-543-0215, (fax) 985-230-0337,
on this web page: ACC Organizations
Save A Life: Animals In High-Kill Hammond, LA Shelter
The animal shelter in Hammond receives about 1400 animals a month and only adopts out about 50 each month. Some animals are put to sleep the same day they arrive. Please contact the shelter as soon as possible if you can adopt or foster to SAVE A LIFE. Please forward to anyone able to help. If there is an interest, possibly the animal can be pulled before it is too late. Many more dogs and cats in jeopardy…
Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control
15487 Club Deluxe Rd. • Hammond, LA 70403
Show you care - Spay or Neuter your pet!
SPAY and Neuter you pets and lower the kill numbers at your local animal control!
I received the following event info from Lynn Morvant…
Krewe of Arfus Pet Parade
The Friends of the Jefferson Animal Shelter, the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter and the Premier Metairie Carnival Parade, the Krewe of Argus are planning an Event on Sunday March 8th, 2009 at Zephyrs Stadium on Airline Drive in Metairie from 11am until 4pm.
‘Pet Gras’ will be the Pet/People Party that will focus on Adoption, Education & Information, the Krewe of Arfus Pet Parade, Vendors, Live Entertainment, Delicious Food and FUN!
The Krewe of ARFus Pet Parade will feature Rescue/Shelter Pets for Adoption and some of their Successful Adoptions, in their own Krewes, with their own Theme, as the Lead of the Parade. Then owned Pets will follow in the Celebration of our Companion Animals.
Pet Gras will have an ‘Adoption Promenade’ area where Rescues/Shelters can bring their Adoptable Pets, offer them for Adoption, share information about their Events and Fundraisers and proclaim The Wonderful Companions Rescue Pets will make.
If your pet rescue organization would like to be a part of Pet Gras and the Krewe of ARFus please check out the website kreweofarfus.org. Of course there are no fees for Rescue/Shelter Groups.
Here is the Krewe of Arfus Pet Parade event flier…
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