Some people upset with Vermilion Parish police jury’s animal shelter

There are expected to be a lot of people Wednesday at the Vermilion Parish Police Jury Committee meeting in hopes of getting things changed at the Vermilion Parish Rabies Control Center.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of the courthouse in Abbeville.
Animal Aid for Vermilion Area, through the Internet, is urging citizens of the parish to attend tonight’s meeting to complain to the police jury about what is occurring at the rabies control shelter in Nunez, between Abbeville and Kaplan..
Each year, just over 1,000 animals are put to sleep at the control center.
Citizens have complained about the shelter for as long as the shelter has been open. The new complaint stems from the recent put down of three dogs that were euthanized last week. An animal rescue organization from Ascension Parish was scheduled to pick up the three dogs last Thursday and when they arrived that afternoon, the dogs had been put down.
The names of the dogs were Ringo, Sasha and Pepper.
The three dogs, however, had been at the parish shelter for more than 30 days, which is longer than dogs normally stay
“It’s heart-breaking, it’s devastating because they had a chance at life, and now they have nothing. That’s just pure evil in my opinion,” said Treva Jeffers, treasurer of Companion Animal Rescue of Ascension, also known as C.A.R.A.
According to someone who works for the police jury but did not want to be named, the people from Ascension Parish were told through e-mail to be at the shelter at 8 a.m. that morning, before the rabies control center was going to begin putting animals to sleep.
By 9 a.m., the three dogs were still alive and not yet been put down, but still no word from the people coming pick up the dogs.
After waiting past 9 a.m., the dogs were eventually put down. The people, who came to rescue the dogs arrived at the rabies center by 1 p.m., but it was too late.
On the Animal Aid for Vermilion Area Facebook page, citizens throughout the state were not happy with the dogs being put down before the people from Ascension Parish arrived.
An online petition has even been started asking the police jury to change their policies. Here are their requests:
• All animals to be posted on the VPRAC Facebook page with intake date irregardless of breed unless they have shown documented signs of aggression.
• A weekly E-list to be posted on the VPRAC Facebook page so people can be informed of exactly which animals are in danger and exactly how long they have to aid in networking and decreasing the need to kill healthy animals. No euthanization of animals unless shelter is at capacity.
• Volunteers to be allowed to help with photographing animals and temperament testing to help with networking. This will also improve the quality of life of the animals in the shelter as they will get much needed socialization.
• Volunteers to be allowed to help with the running of the Facebook page in order to not place additional workload on the staff.
• Better communication with approved rescues. Many e-mails from rescues are not answered in a timely manner.
• Faster approval of rescues. Many rescues send in their 501c(3) paperwork and never receive approval.
• Allowing approved rescues to tag animals to be saved within 48 hours without them having to be placed in one of the few safe kennels.
Many people from all over the world have commented about the animal shelter in the parish.
The animal shelter is funded by a property tax voted on by parish residents. One of the ways the police jury could change what is occurring at the rabies shelter is to put it on a ballot for the residents to decide.
Attorney for the parish police jury gave a statement. Attorney Paul Moresi referred to the C.A.R.A and said, “When they did not appear several hours later to pick up the animals, the animals were euthanized in accordance with parish ordinance and a standing order which prohibits over-crowding.”
A phone call was placed to Linda Duhon, the administrator of the police jury Tuesday morning, but she did not return the call by press time.