Alissa Johnson, an engineer who rescues and rehabilitates stray dogs in her spare time, met with Jeff Dorson of the Humane Society of Louisiana on Friday, July 25th to file animal cruelty charges against Tysha Bryant.  Bryant was charged with neglecting and mistreating 6 month old Cookie, who is pictured above, after her rescue.

The evidence of neglect was presented to Ms. Tracey Powell, Justice of the Peace for the 8th Ward, which includes the unincorporated area of Slidell and the town of Pearl River.  An arrest warrant was then issued for Ms. Bryant, who had recently been arrested on DWI charges.  On July 12th, according to the City of Slidell Police Public Information Office, Ms. Bryant was arrested and charged with a 3rd DWI offense, Careless Operation of a Vehicle, and for driving without proof of liability insurance.

Alissa Johnson had originally been informed about Cookie's plight by a co-worker, who had unsuccessfully tried to get other agencies to intervene.  Ms. Johnson drove by Cookie's house three times and saw that the dog looked underweight, unhealthy and apparently had a bad back leg.  She was also tied to a tree on a short leash, with no shelter or shade from the blazing sun, except for a small, plastic carrier.  On her third visit, Alissa was finally able to meet the owner, who eventually agreed to surrender the dog.  Alissa then drove Cookie to a veterinarian, where it was discovered that her back leg had been broken for some time and had never been treated.  The poor, filthy pup also had mange, parasites and infections in both ears.  Because of the severity of the break, the vet determined that the leg would have to be amputated.  Luckily, caring people responded to an online appeal for donations, which generated sufficient funding to pay for the pup's veterinary care.  We are delighted that Cookie is safe and in caring hands, and we will follow this case through the court system.

When one door closes, another one opens.....

When we were forced to close our Happy Tails adoption center in New Orleans last year, we were particularly disappointed to lose the wonderful play spaces for kitties we had constructed on site, with the support of our members.  You'll be happy to know that this month, with the help of volunteers, we were able to reconstruct the kitty condos we had disassembled and moved up to Tylertown.  We also added new kitty shelves and crawlspaces.  We thought you would enjoy seeing our happy cats in these pics: