Humane Society reports

• By JACQUELINE COCHRAN
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Nov 20, 2008 - Page: 4B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A Humane Society of the United States team concludes its inspection of the Tangipahoa Parish Animal Shelter this week in a private meeting today with parish President Gordon Burgess.

The Humane Society experts, invited by the parish to review operations, are scheduled to deliver a verbal report to Burgess on the conditions they found at the shelter before returning to the Washington, D.C., area.

“I’m not going to go into a meeting and have people coming in and interfering with information that they are giving,” Burgess said Wednesday when asked why he wouldn’t open the meeting to the public. “I’m not sure what they (society members) will want to discuss.”

Burgess said the presence of members of the public could prevent team members from telling him things he needs to know, particularly regarding people working at the shelter.

Animal activists and former shelter volunteers told Humane Society visitors Tuesday that a lack of transparency concerning shelter operations continues to feed fears of abuse and mismanagement.

All 182 shelter animals were euthanized on Aug. 4, except for a few kept in crates in a separate room. The mass destruction of the shelter population caused an outcry by former shelter workers and volunteers that resonated with parish residents.

Humane Society member Corey Smith said during Tuesday’s meeting the team was most struck by the “unbelievable” number of animals seen running free throughout the parish. “The problem is immense,” she said.

The idea that people allow their animals to roam freely and proliferate at will, is something that is imbedded culturally, and that is where things must change, she said.

“Clearly there is a history of frustration here,” said Smith to the audience of 18. “We ask that you let the system work.

“We have been in other communities and while we can’t force them (parish officials), we wouldn’t do this if it didn’t work,” she said. “We wouldn’t be here.”

Along with delivery of today’s verbal report, the Humane Society team is tasked to deliver to the parish a written plan of action that suggests ways to improve animal rescue, adoption and prevention programs.

That written report is to arrive within the next 60 to 90 days.

Jeff McKneely, parish public information officer and assistant director of finance, said Wednesday that the written report will be made public, minus personnel recommendations. “Anything that is public record will certainly be made available to the public,” he said.