Animal shelter’s needs discussed
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LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish will open an animal-control shelter in August, the head of the Parish Council’s animal-control committee said Monday.
Before that opening, the parish needs to hire a director for the shelter and needs to develop guidelines for its operation, the committee decided.
The shelter, which is under construction, will be the first parishwide animal-control shelter in Livingston Parish.
Its opening will follow years of discussions by the council.
Several years ago, the council passed an animal-control ordinance, but delayed its implementation until a shelter could be built.
Committee Chairman A.C. “Buddy” Mincey said he thinks the director should work directly under the Department of Public Works director and not for a board.
Mincey said he would like to see the director come from Livingston Parish.
“We’re at a standstill until we get that person,” Mincey said. “We need to find out what the qualifications are.”
Maurice Durbin, a member of the audience who has long pushed the council to build a shelter, said it might be possible to get someone to come in on an interim basis and teach a local person how to run a shelter.
“There are a lot of state laws that have to be followed,” Durbin said. “The person hired will have to get certified.”
The fact that the location is visible to passing motorists and is easy to find should help with pet adoptions, she said.
The shelter is being built along U.S. 190 in the town of Livingston on land the town donated to the parish.
Before opening, the shelter also needs a fee schedule, said Thomas Watson, a member of the committee.
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But Doc, the Dog's Already Dead!How to say no to your vet.
By Emily Yoffe
Recently, my friend A's vigorous 10-year-old laika (a Russian breed whose name means "barker") woke up wheezing. She seemed fine the next morning when he went to work, but that afternoon he got a call from his mother, who had come over to let the dog out, telling him the dog seemed disoriented. He left work, arriving home about an hour later, to discover his pet on the floor of the bedroom, eyes open and fixed, body stiff. He picked the dog up, put her in the car, and drove to the vet. He ran in with the rigid dog over his shoulder and announced, "I think my dog is dead!" Everything stopped in the waiting room as the techs whisked the dog away.
Soon an employee emerged to explain it looked as if the dog had suffered a cardiac arrest. He also had a question: "Do you want us to do CPR?" All eyes turned to A, including those of the woman who had begun weeping in sympathy when A announced his dog had died. He realized he couldn't bring himself to say what he was thinking: "How much are you going to charge me to do CPR on my dead dog?" Instead, he told them to go ahead, and took a seat. Techs came out with periodic reports—neither heart massage nor drug infusion was generating any vital signs. "I wanted to say, 'That's because she's been dead for an hour,' " says A. Finally, they suggested the treatments should stop, and A agreed. They presented him with the bill. It turns out it costs $250 to try to revive a dead dog.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
1:01 AM