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
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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.
Posted by tangiadoptarescue 
Posted by tangiadoptarescue 
Posted by tangiadoptarescue 
