Defending animals since 1988
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Dear Paws Cause member:
Spring is in the air, so you'll find the HSL crew spreading the word about animal protection at fests and tabling events around the Greater New Orleans from Woofstock in St. Tammany to the Bayou Boogaloo in New Orleans and everything in between. It also means it's a great time to spend a lovely afternoon volunteering at our shelter--walking dogs, cuddling kitties, playing with pups or assisting with construction projects. We'll provide the picnic lunch and all the puppy love and kitty kisses you can handle. Please contact us if you'd like to plan a trip this spring to our peaceful sanctuary in the country!
 Awesome job!Our Magnolia chapter sterilized 51 dogs and 31 cats in February!
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When the vet examined our new buddy Elvis, it was
found he had already miraculously survived a serious gunshot wound before ever making it to our shelter.
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Positive Progress at the Napoleonville Pound!
After our initial undercover work and months spent campaigning for drastically needed improvements at the Assumption Parish pound, (as reported in our September '08 Paws Cause alert) we are happy to be able to report some good news! HSL's Jeff Dorson recently met with the new warden on site and confirmed that conditions and practices have improved greatly. Thankfully, cats and small dogs are no longer being cruelly impounded in small wire traps for extended periods, which was one of our serious concerns. In fact, the new warden, Darren Crochet, is instituting several needed changes in animal care practices--such as staffing the facility on Saturdays for adoptions and placing photos of adoptable dogs on the parish web site for the first time. There has also been talk of relocating the shelter from its current site near the prison, but if that doesn't come to pass, the existing inadequate cages will be replaced. In fact, Warden Crochet has even appealed to HSL to help him institute a program, where supervised inmates would walk dogs in a mutually beneficial exercise program. Overall, we're pleased, and it's good to be able to report positive news!
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Friendly Castle came to us from the St. John Shelter. He's really "earning his keep" at Tylertown these days, being a playmate to incoming pooches.
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Cruelty Cases on the Rise: Livingston, Tangipahoa
We've received an unusual number of cruelty complaints recently from Livingston and Tangiphoa parishes, which have received widespread media coverage in the Baton Rouge area. Randy Stegall and the Tangi Humane Society have been working hard alongside us and our Livingston chapter crew on behalf of these animals. One tragic case involved a number of starving horses, one of whom had already died at the scene. We are also investigating a disturbing case in Livingston parish, where at least 20 dogs and scores of birds have been killed and discarded in Dotis Creek since December. The grisly scene was discovered by Paul Tuennerman, after he received a strange, anonymous phone call informing that he would find his stolen yellow lab dead in the waterway. HSL met with the local sheriff to push for action, and we encountered a sadly not atypical set of difficulties in trying to move the case effectively forward. The State Police were called in to examine the evidence from a dogfighting angle. No signs pointed to an animal fighting ring, however. The dog breeds included a cocker spaniel and even a poodle--all of whom had all been shot in the head. None had injuries indicative of fighting, and the birds were not the type of roosters used in cockfights. We've offered a $2500 reward for information leading to an arrest in these tragic mass killings--and at least one pet theft. After collecting evidence, Jeff Dorson even headed up a team of locals and our members wanting to do area wildlife (and locals!) a favor by organizing cleanup of the horrible canal waterway at the scene of the crimes. Click here to view footage of cleanup and other related stories. |
 Attention North Shore Members! Benefit Sale Coming Soon!
Garage Sale Fundraiser - Saturday, May 30, 2009
7:00 AM till
1481 Rue Bayonne, Mandeville LA
Want to donate, volunteer, or provide vegan food items to sell?
Please contact Leslie Brown at [email protected] or at 985-264-0188.
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Help Us Speak Out for the
New Iberia Primates!
"In no lab I have visited have I seen so many chimpanzees exhibit such intense fear."
Jane Goodall, world renown chimpanzee expert, upon reviewing recently videotaped evidence at the New Iberia, Louisiana facility Did you know that the USA and the nation of Gabon stand alone, as the only two countries in the world still experimenting on chimpanzees? Sadly, it's going on every day in Louisiana--right in our own backyard. At the federal level, efforts are underway to bring our nation's policies in line with those of other countries (United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Spain and many others) where the use of these highly intelligent animals for experimentation is severely restricted or banned. To that end, the Great Ape Protection Act was recently reintroduced in Congress. Meanwhile, here at home, the New Iberia Primate Center (NIRC) has recently come under fire yet again for mistreating chimpanzees. NIRC is part of the University of Louisiana, but its funding comes largely from big pharmaceutical companies for drug testing and from federal grants. It is also one of the largest primate breeding facilities in the country, with more than 6000 monkeys in captivity, including 325 chimpanzees. This represents the largest captive population of these endangered animals in any U.S. laboratory. A nine month undercover investigation of NIRC by the Humane Society of the United States recently exposed shocking evidence, which confirms the long-suspected mistreatment of animals at this lab. The footage recently aired on ABC Nightly News, and the USDA, which loosely enforces the minimal legal protections for animals in laboratories, has launched its own investigation into the matter. Watch the ABC report online by going to the link below. It's difficult viewing, but all of us owe it to these animals to see what is going on behind closed doors, with our own tax dollars, so that we can speak out effectively about the abuse. Click here to view the undercover video. Just when you thought this story couldn't get any sadder, here's another particularly heartbreaking twist: 26 of the chimpanzees in this laboratory were torn from their mothers in the wild, between 1958 - 1977. Some of these poor animals have been enduring experimentation and captivity in these conditions for decades. They were snatched from their mothers in the wild before JFK was elected, before the Beatles came to America, before man walked on the moon-more than a decade before our governor, Bobby Jindal, was even born! This is absolutely cruel, unconscionable and completely outrageous!
No matter what one's view is on the issue of animal experimentation, these highly intelligent and sensitive creatures have clearly suffered LONG ENOUGH! We are taking up the call that these chimps be immediately retired to sanctuary. In the weeks and months ahead, HSL will be working with other organizations in an effort to help chimpanzees and primates at this notorious lab, and we'll keep you informed of our progress.
HOW YOU CAN HELP RIGHT NOW:
Contact your U.S. Representative and ask that he or she co-sponsor the The Great Ape Protection Act, H.R. 1326. If passed, this law would allow for the retirement of the 500 federally owned chimps to sanctuaries, including the elderly chimps at the NIRC. It would also end invasive research on the chimpanzees and make permanent the recent decision of the National Center for Research Resources (part of the National Institutes of Health) to stop funding the breeding of federally-owned chimps. Please keep us informed of any feedback
you get.
Don't know your U.S. Representative?
Please contact us if you would like to volunteer specifically on the NIRC issue. We need people able to write letters, circulate petitions, meet with officials, and generally help us bring attention to the plight of Louisiana's long suffering and defenseless primates. |
On behalf of all the animals in our care,
thank you for your continuing support! |
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| Contact Us |
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P.O. Box 740321
New Orleans, Louisiana 70174
[email protected]
1-888-6-HUMANE
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