So shelters/humane society wants to blame breeders for the overpopulated of animals so they go to their local legislators to make it mandatory for all animals in specific county to be spayed and neutered. Ok so I can understand the frustration that some of these people have, but what infuriate me is that they allow their emotions get the best of them and bring even more animals from other states (especially the animals in new Orleans) into their shelters. Now their current residents are now being cheated from being adopted because people feel more sorry about the hurricane Katrina dogs.

Here's the article that pissed me off, I wonder how many of their resident dogs were put to sleep to make room for the Katrina dogs?

Dogs From Hurricane Katrina Come To S. Fla. Shelters

POSTED: 10:00 pm EDT March 31, 2008

UPDATED: 11:48 am EDT April 1, 2008

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --

Hurricane Katrina ravaged entire communities and forced families to send their pets to shelters.

It’s been almost three years since Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of New Orleans. Some of the dogs still bear the emotional and physical scars from the storm.

On Monday, 24 Katrina-surviving K-9s hoped for a second chance in South Florida after being moved out of the New Orleans area by The Humane Society of the United States.

"Most of them are bigger dogs – Labradors, hound mixes, a couple of American Staffordshire terrier mixes," said Patricia Cooprider of the Broward County Humane Society.

The dogs have lost their homes and their owners.

"It's probably hard for them to go and get adopted out as people are trying to rebuild their lives up there," Cooprider said. "It's probably very difficult for them to find homes, especially with the larger animals."

The Katrina survivors left New Orleans and were brought to Broward County for a second chance at finding a home.

"So far everybody seems friendly," Cooprider said. "They all seemed very outgoing. They all greeted us. They're very well behaved, most of them. I'm sure they've been taken care of very well."

Anyone interested in adopting a Katrina dog can go to HumaneBroward.com for more information.

You can read more about the transfer from New Orleans to South Florida by visiting http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/.

 I would imagine that since New Orleans was destroyed, the shelters ran out of room, and rather than euthanizing the dogs, they took up an offer of compassion from another shelter. They can never all be saved, but neither should we stop trying.

If it bothers you so much that Florida took in Katrina dogs, and possibly put their own to sleep, then maybe you could help out  by taking some in and rehoming them.

Here is the article linked at the end of the above captioned article.  I don't read where either article says Florida animals are being destroyed to make room for St Bernard Parish animals.  If you have proof of what you are suggesting please post it so it can be acted upon.

Isn't the story about the 2 German Shepherds sad?  Abandoned by construction workers.

	The HSUS Transfers Animals from New Orleans Area to Florida for Adoption

Forty-four dogs and eight cats are arriving in Florida for adoption after being moved out of the New Orleans area by The Humane Society of the United States to make way for a new animal shelter to be constructed in St. Bernard Parish.

The HSUS' animal rescue team arrived in St. Bernard Parish, La. Friday to load the animals for their journey. The team delivered the homeless animals to the SPCA in Tampa Bay, Fla. on Sunday and then The HSUS' 75-foot animal transport vehicle continued on to the Humane Society of Broward County in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The animals will be evaluated and medically treated prior to being put up for adoption. 

This animal transfer is part of The HSUS' continuing efforts to assist in the Gulf Coast.

"The needs of animals in St. Bernard Parish were not being met," said Scotlund Haisley, senior director of Emergency Services for The HSUS. "But now, the parish has new leadership and they are making animal welfare one of their priorities."

Some of these animals survived the storm, some were owner surrenders while still others belonged to temporary residents. Two of the dogs who were transferred to Florida are German shepherds named Big Sis and Lil' Sis and were abandoned by construction workers who traveled to New Orleans to help rebuild. The dogs were later turned loose at a construction site and were picked up as strays. Shelter staff tracked down the owners through the dogs' tags, but the workers said they didn't want them anymore. Once the construction job was done, the dogs didn't have anywhere to stay.

The HSUS expressed gratitude to the shelters that so kindly accepted these animals:  Humane Society of Broward County, humanebroward.com, and SPCA Tampa Bay, spcafl.org.

Photos of the transfer are available for download at humanesociety.org/disaster.

I run a local humane society in New England, and I import dogs from Alabama. Instead of jumping all over you, let me educate you on what is happening in a lot of shelters, not just in mine, or others in New England, but in areas where spay/neuter is working.

I live in a state where spaying and neutering are priority. Not because some law demands it, but because education is our first offense. We are very proactive in assisting owners of dogs to alter the dogs. We have low cost programs, and many shelters and rescues only adopt out altered animals. In addition to this, our evaluation program for dogs is quite strict. If a dog is a danger to the public, is ill, we cannot adopt that dog out. This is NOT targeted toward your pit bulls. If they pass the evaluation they are adopted out. If a dog comes into the shelter and it has bitten someone, I cannot adopt that dog out, and it will be humanely euthanized. I do not euthanize for space, and I do not euthanize to make room for dogs from other states or other countries.

I have lots of people who want a dog. I do not have dogs for them. Either dogs do not pass the evaluation, we aren't getting dogs, or the strays that come in, well their owner finds them, or the microchip helps us find the owner. I do get dogs that people have gotten off of craigslist or petfinder, and those dogs have not had a proper evaluation for temperament and those dogs are either destructive, have bitten, or have severe issues. I cannot adopt those dogs out, usually.

What do I do? there are people who want dogs, I don't have any (without transports I would have just a few dogs a month in the shelter). So then, these people get dogs off of craigslist, petfinder, bybs or pet stores. Guess where most of those dogs end up?

Most shelters are 501c, which means we run off of donations and what we can make in adoptions and fund raising. If I take in 15 dogs a month from the local area, and only one or two pass evaluations, that does not leave me many dogs. So, I import dogs from one shelter and one shelter only. They are a high kill shelter, and do euth for space. They have over 500 dogs a week. I might have 1. They spay/neuter, temperament test, and vaccinate each dog I take.  When the dog arrives here, we test them again, and quarantine them for 72 hours, and do another medical check on them. I may take 2 transports a month consisting of 30 dogs each transport. Usually, within 7 days those dogs are all adopted. If someone needs to return that dog, for whatever reason we always take our dogs back, and we offer behavioral support for the life of the dog.

Oh and last week's transport, I helped out another shelter that needed dogs and couldn't house a full transport, I took 7 of the dogs from that transport, two of which were German Shepherds. Those two GSD were the first adopted. They would have been euthanized in AL, because the local GSD rescue isn't taking anymore dogs. One of the gsds, his new family came all the from another state to adopt him, a six hour drive. Would I do all this again? you bet, I have another transport coming Tuesday, and I have requested that any GSDs they have be part of that transport.

I hope you have a better understanding now of what transports are about.

I don't get it.  What difference does it make if someone in New York adopts a dog that has lived its whole life in N.Y, or if someone in New York adopts a dog brought up from New Orleans?

I don't get it.  One is not more deserving nor better, than the other.  In fact, someone may adopt a dog stricly because they feel that they are doing a good deed, helping out a dog homeless because of Katrina, and may not adopt a dog otherwise.  A decent home for a shelter animal for two years, is better than being in a shelter for eight years.  Or, am I wrong about that?

I recenly posted a pic of my home kennel arrangements.  I sometimes help out the local shelter when they get overcrowded.  When they are not overcrowded, I bring shelter animals to my home for "weekend visits", just to let them run in the woods and get socialized and such, but I can not keep them.  My Vet has told me to stop it because of diseases and parasites.  But the more I can give some socialization too, the better their chances of convincing someone to adopt them.  Many shelter dogs are strange.  There is one adult young dog that was born in the shelter and does an awake "fainting" whenever she is away from her mother, even just ten feet away.  She just lies flat and won't move.  When she is with her nmother in the saem cage, she walks underneath her mother, everywhere, and she is almost as big as her mother.  Serious mental problems with that dog and she is probably destined to live in the shelter for her life, along with her mother.  I brought them to my hame for a few days and had to carry the daughter as she lie motionless until put in the back of the vehicle with her mother.  I had to take them to the vehicle one at a time and she did her "fainting routine.

This is a no kill shelter and there are several dogs that have lived their whole lives in the shelter.  The longest being two sisters for over four years.

Very sad, but as has been mentioned, they all can't be saved.

Deeswolf:  I remember a recent article about shelters that were low on dogs getting dogs from other countries too.

Sue, yes there are several private organizations who have many supporters with planes who rescue dogs from puerto rico. These dogs are called Sato dogs. I, personally, have issues with this type of rescue, for several different reasons. The top three being, 1) many of these dogs are feral and do not adjust well  2) there are several high kill shelters in the continental US that really need assistance, and are euthanizing dogs that WOULD make good pets 3) I don't like the idea of infectious disease from other areas coming into my area.  People who do Sato rescue will tell you the dogs in PR do not get the same kind of medical care, and there are occasionally "interesting" new things popping up.

My state's vet is cracking down on the private rescues that bring dogs in from out of the country and other states. My state has strict laws in regard to importing rescues. Quarentine procedures for years were not being followed correctly. Truck loads of dogs with "fake" health certificates were crossing state lines, setting up in fields or pet stores. Puppy buyers were allowed to walk around examine each pup, buy one and walk away. Then when the dog developed medical or behavioral issues or had bad temperament, those rescue groups were no where around to take the dog back. Guess where those dogs ended up? in the local shelters, who then had to use funds to do the dirty work of the organization that created the whole problem to begin with. Recently, in the town next to mine, a private citizen imported over 30 dogs from another state. She did not follow the state laws, and several people who bought pups, that were entirely too young to be away from their mothers, died of parvo. These people were told they were saving a life, and that the pups did not have medical. The buyers are at fault as well. The last count I was given by a state investigator was that 17 out of the 30 that were brought in had died of parvo. It is still not known how many others died as it is believed that they were adopted from out of state.

Transports are a great way to get dogs into the hands of people who want them. BUT, the transports have to be done correctly, according to each individual state laws.