Kentwood to close dog pound

Kentwood’s animal control maybe handled by TPAC, the Hammond Shelter

WDSU New Report: Inspection Leads To Closure Of Kentwood Animal Shelter
KENTWOOD, La. — The town of Kentwood has decided to shut down its animal shelter after an inspection by the Humane Society of Louisiana found dirty and unsafe conditions there, the group said in a news release… http://www.wdsu.com/news/17958072/detail.html or http://snipurl.com/5e40r

WWL News: Group wants Kentwood shelter closed due to filth, waste; 12:44 PM CST on Tuesday, November 11, 2008; Chad Bower / Eyewitness News

The Town of Kentwood animal shelter is under fire from The Humane Society of Louisiana after the group found no sewerage system, a pile of waste that had built up for years and several dogs that were too weak to stand.

The Humane Society detailed all of that in a report that also called for the parish to close the shelter or take it over. They are seeking to sign an agreement with Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control to take over services… http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl111108cbshelter.1a13c59ab.htm or http://snipurl.com/5c54s
(Please leave a comment under this news report to show that you care about the animals of Tangi Parish)
—-

News Release: For immediate use
Contacts: Jeff Dorson, Executive Director (901-268-4432), Dawn Taylor-Church, Shelter Inspector (435-899-0985)

TOWN OF KENTWOOD PREPARED TO CLOSE ANIMAL SHELTER INSPECTION REVEALS SERIOUS PROBLEMS AND VIOLATIONS

(NEW ORLEANS) — The Humane Society of Louisiana recently conducted an inspection of the Town of Kentwood Dog Shelter as part of its comprehensive review of all animal sheltering facilities throughout the state and found multiple violations of city and state laws that govern animal shelters. The society also found the facility to be in general non-compliance with national shelter standards. The shelter report, which was submitted to Kentwood Mayor Harold Smith late last week, was discussed at the most recent town council meeting and led, it can be assumed, to the decision to suspend operations at the shelter. The administration is seeking to sign an agreement with the parish animal control department to take over services.

The inspection report detailed serious structural problems with the small cinderblock building that has housed stray dogs for many decades. The shelter was never designed to house animals. The city never installed a drainage system nor a septic tank, so waste has simply accumulated for years, heaped off to one side of the kennel runs. Since there is no way to adequately remove the waste, the building has been a fertile breeding ground for harmful bacteria, disease, and parasites. The building is poorly ventilated, damp, and poorly lighted, providing the dogs will little fresh air or light. “These conditions combine to make for a ‘perfect storm’ to spread disease and infection,” says Jeff Dorson, Executive Director of the group. “There is no way to humanely house animals under these primitive conditions,” adds Dorson.
The report also revealed non-compliance with the state adoption law, which requires adopting agencies to only release animals under a contractual basis. Under the state pet adoption law, which was passed almost a decade ago, every animal must be sterilized within 30 days from the date of its adoption. This law was never applied in Kentwood, and no adequate adoption process was ever developed. Dogs were simply given away or passed around to family and acquaintances of the Shelter Manager, Mr. David Sellers, according to his own statements. Mayor Harold Smith maintained that the city was required to accept a payment of $75 per dog, of which $50 was refunded when proof of a rabies certificate was presented. This arrangement, whenever it was enforced, however, also failed to satisfy the state adoption law.

Two puppies that were rescued on October 30th from the Kentwood were barely alive when shelter inspectors revisited the facility and gained custody of them. The Catahoula puppies were too weak to stand and were full of parasites and mites and were suffering from acute malnutrition. The puppies were not given proper puppy food and were ravenous by the time they were given a proper diet. “We suspect that these puppies would have died over the weekend at this shelter, and we are delighted that they were brought out, given medical care, a proper diet, and are now thriving. We hope that they will be the last dogs to be impounded at the Kentwood shelter,” Dorson concludes.
The group has been monitoring and inspecting private and public animal sheltering facilities since its inception in 1988. However, in light of the problems that have surfaced at the Jefferson Parish Shelter in 2007, when more than a dozen dogs were accidentally poisoned, and the Tangipahoa Shelter, the site of mass euthanasia of animals two months ago, the group has accelerated its inspection process and is conducting many more inspections. Just recently, the group has inspected shelters at Mamou, Jennings, Oberlin, Napoleonville, and Lake Arthur. Copies of these inspection reports are also available for review. Media representatives may also contact the group’s principle shelter inspector, Ms. Dawn Taylor-Church, by calling 435-899-0985. A copy of the shelter inspection report, photos taken at the shelter, and Mr. Dorson’s letter to Mayor Smith are attached.

The Humane Society of Louisiana is one of the largest animal protection and advocacy organizations in the state with more than 10,000 members. For more information, please visit their website at www.humanela.org

###

Dog Pound Photos

Kentwood Dog Pound side view

Dog in Kentwod Pound

Kentwood Pound

Dogs and their waste

PDF files…
Humane Society letter to Kentwood Mayor
Humane Society report

or you can read the letter to the Kentwood Mayor online here: Starving Dogs found in Kentwood pound again

Starving Dogs found in Kentwood pound again

Once again starving dogs have been found in the Kentwood Dog Pound

Back around the time of 9 – 11, news broke out that the Kentwood city dog pound was allowing dogs to starve to death. Photos were taken of dogs and puppies feeding on the dead bodies of their kennel mates.

Catahoula Pup

Well it looks like they are up to the same animal abuse once again. Is this what they feel is the best way to handle animal control issues? Below is the faxed letter that The Humane Society of Louisiana sent to Kentwood city Mayor on the latest dogs starving incident…

November 6, 2008

The Honorable Harold Smith
Mayor, Town of Kentwood
RE: Town of Kentwood Dog Pound
BY FAX TRANSMITTAL

Dear Mayor Smith,

For the past twenty years, since our group’s inception, our representatives have visited and inspected municipal and parish animal sheltering facilities, to ensure that all humane laws and regulations are being upheld and that impounded animals are humanely treated and housed. These inspection services are listed in our original state charter, which is on file with the Office of the Secretary of State. On Thursday, October 30, our representative, Ms. Dawn Taylor-Church, visited your facility and submitted her report and photos for our review.

On October 31, two other representatives, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Stegall, also visited the shelter to adopt out two Catahoula puppies. Our two teams, working independently, were appalled at the conditions they witnessed and concluded that this shelter is simply unfit to humanely house animals and should be closed immediately, due to flaws and structural deficiencies in its design.

The shelter, which apparently was built as a small jail or holding facility some twenty or thirty years ago, according to a city worker, was never designed to house animals. There are no drainage pipes nor a septic system to carry away the animal waste. The waste is simply hosed off to the side of the concrete slab, where it has remained for many, many years. Because the waste has not and cannot be properly removed, the animals are exposed to years of contamination, disease-laden bacteria, and stench. This is no way to humanely house an animal at this facility.

Unfortunately, the report reveals many more serious problems. The dog runs are dank, stink, and usually wet. The two puppies we rescued from this facility on October 31, were barely alive. They were lethargic and extremely ill, after being housed in this facility. If they somehow were sick when they were placed in this shelter, this is no place for them to recover from their illnesses. The puppies were malnourished, their bones and rib bones were protruding, and they were so weak, they could hardly walk. A veterinary report showed that they were suffering from malnutrition. It appears that puppies at this shelter, are only given low-grade, cheap adult dog food, which they are not able to digest at their young age. They were ravenous during the first few days of eating proper puppy food.

In addition, the adoption program, if one exists, violates the state statue on this matter. An adoption agency must conform and abide by the state regulations, which are outlined in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §3. 2471. Every adoption agency, which includes the town of Kentwood Animal Shelter, must provide a written contract to each adopting individual. That individual is then bound to sterilize this dog within 30 days. No such arrangement exists at your facility. In fact, the facts stated by your shelter employee, Mr. David Sellers, run counter to the statements you made to our shelter inspector, when you said that adopters must pay a $75.00 fee, of which $50.00 is returned once proof of a rabies certificate has been presented to the city. Mr. Sellers simply stated that he gives some of the dogs away to his family and friends – which is a very poor adoption process and is prohibited, when done in this fashion, by state law.

Access to this shelter also runs counter to industry standards. It is very hard for the public to gain access to this facility. Several people, over the last several years, gave up during the process, because calls were never returned and arrangements were never made to meet residents at the shelter. Fees, emergency phone numbers, and hours of operation should have been posted outside of this facility, which, apparently, also has no signage, years ago. We also assume that this facility does not have an operational manual, up-to-date records (since no records were taken during our adoption of the two puppies, we can assume that no accurate records have been kept for years), or works with any rescue groups on placing these animals.

Our second team of inspectors said that this is the worst facility that they had ever seen and referred to it as a “dungeon,” with no chance for the animals to be properly cared for. In light of these statements and documentation, it appears that this facility is violating your city’s own local ordinance under, Section 8-3007: Public dog shelter.

“The town shall maintain a public dog shelter, managed humanely and in a sanitary condition and shall provide food and shelter for any animal impounded.”

Based on our documentation of these unacceptable conditions, we highly recommend that your office immediately issues a moratorium on picking up or housing animals at this facility, until it can be renovated and upgraded and/or demolished. In the interim, you may wish to house impounded animals at a local veterinary clinic (since some of your reports show that only twenty-some animals are picked up per year), or picked up and delivered to the parish facility, located in Hammond. Or, maybe a citizen is willing to sign a joint-cooperative agreement with your town to provide backyard kennel space until the dogs are reclaimed, adopted, or euthanized.

To familiarize you with some of the regulations that apply to municipal animal shelters, I am enclosing copies of Title 3, of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture Code, which are found under section 2463, entitled “General Shelter Standards.” I am also attaching a copy of our inspection report, dated October 30th of this year.

I look forward to speaking with you about the issues outlined in this correspondence, and I hope that we can work amicably together in finding a viable solution to these problems.

Sincerely yours,

Jeff Dorson
Executive Director
The Humane Society of Louisiana
JND/jd
Enclosures: Inspection report
Title 3

—-

CALL for action…

Please phone and/or write…

The Honorable Harold Smith
Mayor, Town of Kentwood
RE: Town of Kentwood Dog Pound
Kentwood City Hall
308 Avenue G
Kentwood, Louisiana 70444
985-229-3451

Sate that they should to close their dog pound or follow the Louisiana state laws. If you are a resident of Kentwood, Louisiana let them know that and also state that you desire to live in a town that cares about animal welfare!

City Leaders to blame

It is alway the leaders that hold the true blame for horror stories like this. They are the ones that put the people in place that run the animal shelters or dog pounds. They are the ones that should be watching out for what is happening under their noses. They are ones to hold accountable when time after time their hired people do wrong.

Here is a little info on Kentwood Louisiana…

Kentwood is a rural town in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana near the Mississippi border. The population was 2,205 at the 2000 census. Water from Kentwood is bottled and popularly marketed in New Orleans under the Kentwood Springs label. Kentwood is best known as the hometown of pop singer Britney Spears and sister Jamie Lynn Spears.

Help the two puppies

The two puppies are in foster care in Metairie. If you are interested in helping (donations/fostering/adopting) the two starving puppies saved from this dog pound please contact…

The Humane Society of Louisiana
P.O. Box 740321, New Orleans, LA 70174
Donate Online.
The Humane Society of Louisiana is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
Gifts are deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.