The Shelter Project 

Sadly, HSL receives a seemingly endless stream of reports about animal neglect and mistreatment in Louisiana's backwoods rural pounds.  You may have recently received our email outlining our Vermilion parish campaign to shut down their inhumane gas chamber and to institute other common sense reforms.  You can link HERE to read the report and contact area officials on behalf of the homeless cats and dogs who go to this shelter to die.  Just in the past several weeks, our Executive Director, Jeff Dorson, has also been particularly busy following up on complaints and inquiries on behalf of impounded cats and dogs.   He's written a letter of support to the St. Mary Parish President and council members, as part of an effort to help secure a new shelter building.   He's been in contact with the Mayor of Bunkie, a pound where we have documented extremely poor conditions for years; community volunteers voiced serious concerns to us about the mistreatment of animals by the warden.   Dorson has also been communicating with the Mayors of Jonesboro and Crowley, as well as to the Acadia parish President - and now Council members.   The President has thus far refused to follow up with us, regarding the investigation report we filed with him this summer.  There are serious problems at the rural Acadia pound, where yet another 'kill chamber' is in use; we are urging officials to discontinue it.   Staff members also reported to us that there have been 10 break-ins at the facility during the last few years, when pit bulls were stolen.