Democracy for Vancouver

This is so sad. And why did it take 2 years for anything to be done about this?

Lawsuit: Katrina Pets Executed
Investigations, Two Criminal Indictments and a Lawsuit Put the Heat on St. Bernard Parish’s Sheriff’s Office
By JIM AVILA, ELIZABETH TRIBOLET and CHRIS FRANCESCANI
ABC News Law & Justice Unit
June 11, 2007

For nearly two years, pet owners from the low-lying Louisiana parish of St. Bernard have accused sheriff’s deputies of having wantonly killed dozens of dogs they forced evacuees to leave behind during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, without regard to the dogs’ size or the potential threat they might pose.

One owner said her family was forced at gunpoint to leave its dog behind. Another owner said residents became frantic when, they said, they overheard one deputy claim that “once everybody’s gone, we’re going to have target practice tonight.” They claim in court papers that deputies were under orders to shoot every dog they found.

Two deputies have already been indicted by a grand jury in New Orleans on charges of felony, aggravated cruelty to animals. The Louisiana attorney general’s office is investigating and this morning lawyers for a group of owners will file a comprehensive complaint in federal court in Louisiana seeking class action status for their clients.

For the first time, the St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s office has acknowledged to ABC News’ Law & Justice Unit that an internal investigation has been launched.

‘Shooting Gallery’
“It was a massacre. It was a shooting gallery,” said Mark Steinway, co-founder of the animal rescue group Posada Safe Haven. Steinway was among those who discovered the animals’ bodies at three school evacuation centers, gathered evidence and urged the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office to launch an investigation.

“We documented as best we could as a crime scene,” he said. “It was obvious [the dogs] had been chased around. There were so many rounds of ammunition and so many holes in the walls and so many random shots to body cavities and legs, areas where you know the animals were trying to get away from these guys.”

Steinway described one harrowing discovery he made in the one of the parish schools that he said exemplified the wantonness with which the animals were killed.

“Somebody carefully tied up these two dogs in one of the rooms and shot them, and didn’t even shoot them at close range in the head to put them out of their misery,” he said. “They backed up and started shooting, with a shotgun started firing. Pellets all over the floor, bullet holes in the wall. It was a slaughter.”

‘Please Do Not Shoot Her”
Some of the pet owners who spoke with ABC News said they had waited until the last minute to evacuate for good reason. One woman’s daughter had just had a major surgery. Another had a medical condition that prevented him from driving and an elderly father too weak to drive. The waters rose rapidly and communication was difficult at best. Many residents were rescued from their rooftops, their animals clinging to them.

Here is the whole story and a video if you can bear it.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be determined by the way it treats its animals,” - Mohandas Gandhi