New Orleans Animal Surrender Crisis

New Orleans, LA 2/16/06

Animal Rescuers at MuttShack are seeing an extraordinary number of people relinquishing their pets. Returning New Orleans residents are finding their homes so trashed after Katrina they can’t keep their animals. Others are taking care of homeless families so there is no room for their own pets. Some are living in FEMA trailers with restrictions on large pets or in trailer parks or apartments with NO PET policies. There simply is no room. Many pets are sickly from all the toxins, and guardians (owners) can’t afford the vet bills so they surrender their pets hoping someone else will give them a new home.

It is very sad after all they have gone through to survive Katrina that they now end up on euthanasia lists. Some of the local shelters are euthanizing twice a week.

MuttShack volunteers just run around pulling as many animals as they can from death row, and ship them out of town because their chances of being adopted locally are slim. There used to be 500,000 people here. Now there are 150,000. Even those numbers of available homes are deceiving, because even though they are back their properties are no longer animal safe. Fences are down, there are toxins are on the ground. Backyards for the most part are tree cemeteries where large trees wait for chain saws to move them out. Five percent of people still don’t have electricity, and tons and tons of trash still litter streets.

Volunteers Saskia and Jim and Claire Davis pulled 15 dogs out of the Roicy facility in Lafayette last week and drove them to Santa Barbara. The previous week MuttShackers drove 37 of the most unwanted, un-adoptable cats down to Kris Rieck’s Twisted Whisker’s shelter in North Carolina. Unfortunately the cats rescued from the Lafayette Roicy facility have not done well and the sanctuary’s vet bills are mounting. Jim Davis pulled a sick kitty from Roicy last week and he too is saddled with vet bills. If you can help with a donation e-mail both volunteers on the bulletin board.

Cathy Wells, had the same experience with Roicy cats and MuttShack has warned rescuers to make sure that none of the Roicy cats infect new colonies.

Local MuttShack volunteers are doing their thing. Pulling animals, bringing animals to boarding kennels or their own homes, finding forever homes, shipping them, and so on. They need all your support. Volunteers coming into town can go to the local shelters to volunteer. Please contact Amanda to find out where your help is most needed.

Attached is a picture of PERRO. Please help Perro find a forever home! If you were at MuttShack at Lake Castle School, you may remember Perro and MuttShackers Sheri and Paul. They cooked a huge pot of Cajun soup which we relished in the cold weather. Sheri and Paul can no longer keep Perro (one of many dogs they still have) so please help fellow rescuers!

Sign up to the newsgroups and let us know how you are doing and which mutts or cats are running your life right now!