The LaFourche Parish Animal Shelter in LA is open from 9am – 3:30pm four days a week, closed on Wednesdays and weekends. Lionel de la Houssaye has been the parish vet since May. He recently sent a letter to the parish council regarding his concerns about pound director Kelli Toups:
In his letter, de la Houssaye says some animals with illnesses or broken legs were not treated at the shelter before being euthanized.
In one case, de la Houssaye said he witnessed Toups tell her staff they were “forbidden to do anything” to help a dog suffering from a heat stroke and that “nothing was to be spent in the care of the dog.”
Councilman Phillip Gouaux claims that the shelter’s problems stem from the fact that it’s only about 10 years old. Because apparently it takes more than a decade for a pound director to develop compassion for the animals in her care. I guess after so many years of viewing animals as Things I’m Going to Kill Anyway, the humanity suddenly starts to swell.
(Thanks Clarice for the link.)
Absolutely unbelievable – that is a brand new excuse that I’ve not heard before. Having an old building, lots of times, but this is new to me. Of course, there IS no excuse for abusing and neglecting animals, much less killing those who are adoptable (which is most of them, by the way). Maybe we need to start sending emails . . . thanks to the vet and a pox on the rest of them.
Yes, once you start seeing them as just another body you’re about to make stop breathing, compassion for suffering simply does not happen.
You know, the more I learn about the culture of killing at these shelters, the more I am determined for shelter reform. Because even if you hate animals and want them all to die, the *human* cost is simply too high. Kill shelters make people into monsters…and they don’t even know it. And then they’re out in the regular world with the rest of us…
Kill shelters are bad for animals, bad for people, bad for society, bad for humanity.
I hope she/he gets fired
This person should be fired, have his vet license pulled and charged with cruelty to animals. Disgusting!
Why would you want to take the Vet’s license away? Did you actually read, understand, and comprehend what the article said? It isn’t the Vet it is the shelters Director not being a responsible leader in the care and comfort of the animals in the shelter. It is her the Shelters Director that needs to be fired and removed not the Vet the Vet is trying to help the animals by letting people know what is going on,.
I wonder if the councilman came up with that on his own. Sometimes, I wish people could hear themselves.
He’s not doing a good job! He must be fired!!