Rescued Animals to be Euthanized on Oct 15

After all the work we did in Louisiana, some of the rescued animals are going to be put down, regardless of the fact that the owners have not yet been found!

On October 15 (two days from now), all animals rescued in Hurricane Katrina who have not already been taken into foster care will become property of Louisiana. What this means is that any shelter (anywhere) who took an animal displaced by Katrina has the right to euthanize an animal on Oct. 15 if it chooses to do so--regardless of whether the animal's owners have been found. Many of the shelters animals were sent to are HI-KILL shelters, and will put these animals down because they don't have space. Many of the animals are going down because they are heartworm positive. In most cases, heartworm is treatable and an animal can live a normal existence.

For example: An animal rescued in New Orleans was sent to Gonzales. Gonzales then processed the animal and sent it to a hi-kill facility in Alabama. The Alabama shelter put the pet on Petfinder.com, but because of limited space decides that they will euthanize the animal. Since the agreement the shelters signed when taking the animals from Gonzales said that they only had to shelter the animals until Oct. 15, some will euthanize the rescued animals on that day, or shortly thereafter.

These pets owners have NOT YET BEEN FOUND! This is unfair and cruel.

So many of these animals are good, viable pets! There is a cocker spaniel right now sitting on death row in Alabama because the owner has not been matched to it (contact me if you can foster this dog). These are not vicious animals that are not adoptable. They are good family pets that once belonged to people and then lived through one heck of a storm. It would be crime now to see these animals put down after all they've gone through to make it.

All animals rescued were supposed to have been placed on Petfinder.com for THIRTY days so that the owners could be matched to them, but for many animals in hi-kill facilities, this will NOT be the case.

STOP THIS NOW!!