Some good stuff

If you're not an animal lover, you may not enjoy reading this, probably thinking that the dollars discussed below could go to "something better". To each his own, I guess.


From the HSUS website, the article
Stronger Than Before: Two Years after Katrina, Gulf Coast Animal Groups Rebound

The metamorphosis of the LA SPCA is perhaps the most spectacular example of revitalization and renewal that has emerged from the wake of Katrina’s ruinous assault. Once housed in a rundown building of mid-twentieth century vintage on Japonica Street in the poverty-plagued Ninth Ward, the organization now occupies the 12-acre Dorothy Dorsett Brown Louisiana SPCA Campus, with an $8 million dollar, 21,000 square foot central building.


In October 2005 Louisiana SPCA director Laura Maloney recalls

an incredible sadness that fills me daily for the animals of New Orleans. The rottweiler, the pit bull, the German shepherd mix that died in flood waters after being left tethered to a fence or a porch or a balcony. The animals whose owners did not have the means to evacuate and who were left behind as their caretakers were rescued from the roofs of homes overcome with waters from breached levees. The dogs whose top coat peeled away as easily as a banana skin after days of swimming in pools of contaminated waters, slick with oil, silt, and salt from Lake Pontchartrain. When I think of the animals, I’m filled with an incredible sense of loss, sadness, and even anger. Katrina brought our pet overpopulation problem national attention and exposed the high level of neglect and lack of care for a large portion of New Orleans’ furred friends.



The Humane Society of the US has sent $8.35 million in reconstruction grants to 45 facilities in the region. And that money has gone a long way.

Some examples include:

The Ascension Parish shelter renovated its puppy and kitten nursery, with the goal of increasing its adoption rate. An animal evacuation facility which exhausted all of its supplies during Katrina is now stocked with the equipment and material necessary to meet the next disaster.

Avoyelles, a cash-strapped parish on the route of escape from storms threatening the Louisiana coast now has a pet-friendly evacuation shelter.

The Clearwater Wildlife Sanctuary in Covington, Louisiana facility has a new barn with housing for domestic and wild animals and a visitors center that gives children access to humane and wildlife conservation education.

The Humane Society of Louisiana in New Orleans, the Ascension Parish shelter in Sorrento, Louisiana, and the Washington Humane Society in Bogalusa, Louisiana have new vehicles for animal transport.