Mayor Bobby Gill
Kentwood City Hall
308 Avenue G
Kentwood, LA 70444
Phone: 504-229-3451
Fax: 504-229-2658
[email protected]
By SYLVIA SCHON, Daily Star Staff Writer September 17, 2001
KENTWOOD - Three of the five inmates of Kentwood's dog pound lay dead Sunday afternoon. Amid the flies and overpowering stench, a puppy dined on the sliding, putrefying flesh of a former cell mate.
Mayor Bobby Gill said he saw no dead animals there when he visited the pound on Friday.
"I tell you, that's a condition that we haven't had," Gill said this morning. "I was down there Friday morning. I came back and told the town superintendent, 'You're going to have to keep the grass cut around there.'"
On Sunday, Town Council member Ferrie Jean Blackmon said she was not aware of the situation, but she is concerned.
"I think anybody would be," she said.
Gill said he doesn't know why three of the dogs died. He offered no explanation about the advanced state of decay of one of the animals.
Pound caretaker Jim Slaven was contacted about the conditions Sunday afternoon. He said he fed the animals Friday.
When asked, Slaven said the town paid him $150 every two weeks to care for the impounded animals.
Slaven ended the phone conversation, however, when asked if there were any dead dogs in the pound when he visited Friday.
Gill said Slaven went to the pound Sunday to deal with the carcasses.
"Jim is probably one of the best ones we've had down there," the mayor said.
Slaven, who also drives a school bus, has hunting dogs of his own and has done a good job keeping the pound clean, Gill said.
Animals are kept there for a certain number of days to see if anybody claims them, he said. Slaven checks phone messages at Town Hall most days to see if anyone is looking for one of the impounded animals. If not, a veterinarian is called in to put them down.
When the Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control department was set up several years ago, Kentwood opted to keep its own animal control program.
By SYLVIA SCHON, Daily Star Staff Writer September 19, 2001
KENTWOOD - Animals lovers from near and far are zeroing in on Kentwood's dog pound after a story in Monday's Daily Star revealed the pound contained filthy conditions, carcasses and at least one hungry puppy with no other food feeding on a rotting cell mate.
The initial news story was placed on The Daily Star's Web site and apparently picked up by animal activist groups. E-mails addressed to the town are arriving at The Daily Star from outraged animal lovers.
"Did you know there are over 5,000 animal abuse activists groups on the Internet now? I suspect you are about to find out," writes Patty Heugel of Strongsville, Ohio.
Gill said this morning that pound caretaker Jim Slaven has done a good job and every time he has personally visited the pound, the animals were fed and watered and the premises was clean.
Gill added, however, that Slaven did admit that on Sunday when a reporter and photographer visited, there were dead animals in the runs. Gill said Slaven did not know what killed them.
"Sometimes something like that is going to happen," Gill said. "When it comes to our attention, we're going to do everything possible to take care of that problem."
"That is a bunch of bull. This hasn't just started; it's been going on. I used to go back there every day, and they had dead dogs," said Paul Brown of Ponchatoula.
Brown said he lived near the pound for several months last year and one day discovered problems there by following his nose.
"I used to steal dogs out of the dog pound to keep them alive," Brown said. "It just made me mad. You see that wire around the bottom of the fence? That's there because of me."
Smell also led members of the local Friends group inspecting the pound on Monday to dog carcasses tossed in a swampy area near the pound.
"If this is used as a means of disposal for animal carcasses, not only is it grossly inhumane, it is a health hazard," wrote Friends President Martina Ellis in the letter to town officials.
Gill said this morning that town workers will bury the carcasses, a task that does not fall to Slaven.
Ellis noted that there had been some clean-up effort by the time they got there Monday, but water troughs were still "filthy" and animal waste still clung to the cage edges, trapped between the concrete and fence.
"Leaving animals with no other choice for food but dead carcasses is absolutely unacceptable for any type of facility, much less one funded by the public," Ellis wrote, referencing the news story.
The group has asked for the town's policies, procedures and budget regarding animal control.
" ... The Friends of the Shelter want to know what actions you are going to take to ensure that the dogs housed at your facility receive proper care and food in accordance with the state laws of Louisiana and that this type of incident will never happen again," the letter continues.
Margaret Bruce of Henderson, Nev., has also written to town officials via e-mail, calling for change: "Please clean up that place and oversee the proper and humane care of those dogs or close it down. No animal deserves such treatment. No person with any human dignity or morals could allow this to happen and not do anything about it."
Michael Makowski of Grand Rapids, Mich., wrote that he plans to keep track of the story.
"A society is judged how civil it is by the way it treats its animals," Makowski wrote. "From the horrible condition at your pound, your town is very uncivil. I hope that someone who is concerned and caring comes forward to see that there are changes at the pound."
By:Lil Mirando, Managing Editor September 22, 2001
Been thinking about changing my e-mail address. With all the public fury being expressed in cyberspace these days, it's easy to start feeling overwhelmed.
"Mayor Gill," wrote Ella Hampton of Jesup, Ga., "you didn't see the dead and starving animals when you supposedly visited (the town dog pound)? You need to hand over your job to a sighted, caring person...."
"Clean up the place ... or close it down," wrote Bobbie Flowers of New York, N.Y.
Rudy Allen of Tujunga, Calif., threatened, "While it's certainly true that most of the public may fall for your alibis, activists who are aware of this sort of abuse and know the tell-tale signs will not sit idly by and allow you to cover up the truth."
"This is felony animal cruelty," warned Lynn Walker of Providence, Rhode Island, "and unless it is addressed forthwith, Kentwood will be dealing with a growing reputation over the Internet as a hot spot of animal cruelty, which I am sure you don't want."
Well, I'm sure I don't want it.
I called up Kentwood City Hall on Friday afternoon and talked with a pleasant town clerk who told me she regularly checks Mayor Gill's e-mail at [email protected], so I forwarded a big batch of the messages there. But after five minutes of punching the "forward" key, I quit. I figured Mayor Gill or his delegate would probably do the same thing to these messages that I do with the deluge of forwarded messages I get every day. The "delete" key is even easier to use than the "forward" key.
It's hard to gauge local concern about the deplorable conditions that have existed at Kentwood's dog pound. One neighbor to the pound felt strongly enough to talk with a reporter. We've heard from several people who did not wish to be quoted. A Daily Star editorial urged town officials to give the pound closer scrutiny. Thus far, however, we have not received any local letters on the topic.
I'm hoping Britney will take interest.
Lil Mirando is Managing Editor of The Daily Star, a daily newspaper located in Hammond, La., and serving the heart of Louisiana's Florida Parishes since 1959.
Joni Solis
Or
