Stop the killing at Caddo Parish

Caddo Parish Animal control in Shreveport LA use to work towards getting as many animals as possible adopted out.  Annette Lewis was key to turning the shelter's focus around.  Together with her emphasis on adoptions and her working with local rescue groups a LOT of animals were saved.

Since taking over as the Director of Caddo Parish Animal Control, Matthew Pepper has changed the direction of the shelter into becoming a virtual slaughter house.

The following information was provided as of 05/17/08:

Between 5-5-08, and 5-16-08, they euthanized over 300 animals. On 5-13-08 they euthanized 78 animals that one day. They use no sedation, and frequently not the right dosage, as animals are found alive in the freezer, quite often. The same person does the euthanasia.

There was a cat and her kittens that were euthanized right in their kennel, and just left there, and are still there!

There is a small "Benji" type puppy that rescue was told would be put down because of parvo. When it was pointed out that there is no parvo there, and the puppy is not sick, they said that the puppy was not friendly, and could not be adopted.

There is a mama mixed breed dog (approx 30 lbs) and her 5 week old puppy who are under orders to be put down, for no apparent reason.

There is a Pit puppy there under orders to be killed because it is a Pit.

The order is in from the shelter director, that no more dogs will be treated at the vet. If a dog gets sick, it gets euthanized.

And it does not appear that there is going to be any corrections to these actions in the near future.

They recently interviewed for a new rescue/adoption coordinator. A local rescuer there who is very familiar with all of the workings of the shelter and was trained on a volunteer basis by Annette Lewis to be prepared to accept this job if it was offered was one of the people who was interviewed.

She was denied the position solely because of her previous role in trying to get the shelter on a good track, and was told that they were afraid that if she saw something she didn't like, she would engage in activities of this type again!

We are asking the Parish Administrator, Woody Wilson and the President of the LA Animal Control Association to investigate what is happening at Caddo Parish and to instill policies and procedures that will once again make Caddo Parish a monument of compassion for animals and their welfare.

On their website which can be found at www.caddopets.com it states, on the front page, that "Our goal at the shelter is to give each animal the love and affection that it may have been denied."  It is time to make these words mean something again.  Caddo Parish needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

Caddo Parish Animal control in Shreveport LA use to work towards getting as many animals as possible adopted out.  Annette Lewis was key to turning the shelter's focus around.  Together with her emphasis on adoptions and her working with local rescue groups a LOT of animals were saved.

Since taking over as the Director of Caddo Parish Animal Control, Matthew Pepper has changed the direction of the shelter into becoming a virtual slaughter house.

The following information was provided as of 05/17/08:

Between 5-5-08, and 5-16-08, they euthanized over 300 animals. On 5-13-08 they euthanized 78 animals that one day. They use no sedation, and frequently not the right dosage, as animals are found alive in the freezer, quite often. The same person does the euthanasia.

There was a cat and her kittens that were euthanized right in their kennel, and just left there, and are still there!

There is a small "Benji" type puppy that rescue was told would be put down because of parvo. When it was pointed out that there is no parvo there, and the puppy is not sick, they said that the puppy was not friendly, and could not be adopted.

There is a mama mixed breed dog (approx 30 lbs) and her 5 week old puppy who are under orders to be put down, for no apparent reason.

There is a Pit puppy there under orders to be killed because it is a Pit.

The order is in from the shelter director, that no more dogs will be treated at the vet. If a dog gets sick, it gets euthanized.

And it does not appear that there is going to be any corrections to these actions in the near future.

They recently interviewed for a new rescue/adoption coordinator. A local rescuer there who is very familiar with all of the workings of the shelter and was trained on a volunteer basis by Annette Lewis to be prepared to accept this job if it was offered was one of the people who was interviewed.

She was denied the position solely because of her previous role in trying to get the shelter on a good track, and was told that they were afraid that if she saw something she didn't like, she would engage in activities of this type again!

We are asking the Parish Administrator, Woody Wilson and the President of the LA Animal Control Association to investigate what is happening at Caddo Parish and to instill policies and procedures that will once again make Caddo Parish a monument of compassion for animals and their welfare.

On their website which can be found at www.caddopets.com it states, on the front page, that "Our goal at the shelter is to give each animal the love and affection that it may have been denied."  It is time to make these words mean something again.  Caddo Parish needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

We, the undersigned, do respectfully ask that the changes in policy at Caddo Parish Animal Control be evaluated and policies be put in place to insure that healthy companion animals are given a chance to be adopted instead of being euthanized.

Until recently, before the new director, Matthew Pepper took charge of things, there was a concerted effort to get the animals adopted out and to work with local rescues to assist in that task.  At a time when more and more shelters are moving towards establishing a "no-kill" philosophy, to revert to being a very high kill shelter is a "black eye" at best for the whole of Caddo Parish and gives the impression of a lack of compassion as well as the appearance of being behind the times in terms of animal control.  While we understand that it is not always possible to adopt out every dog and/or cat that comes in to your shelter, we believe it is unconscionable to kill these innocent victims while making no attempts to find homes for them.

Please understand this is not just a local issue.  If you read the signatures found here, you will see that the eyes of not just the nation, but of other countries as well are watching to see how you respond to this situation.  We urge you to act quickly on this matter to correct the situation that is at hand and to re-establish the feelings that Caddo Parish is a place of compassionate citizens,  a place we would want to visit, rather than to avoid.

We appreciate your time and efforts in considering and addressing our concerns.