Hurricane Katrina pets get killed

Quote :

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 " authorization...of their superiors and employers.

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.

In an interview last week, Sal Gutierrez, who represents the sheriff's office, defended the department's handling of a clearly difficult evacuation. Gutierrez said the shells left behind in the schools did not necessarily come from the weapons issued to department deputies. He denied allegations that orders to kill the dogs came from superior officers, calling that claim "false." He said that if the investigation turned up any wrongdoing by deputies, the St. Bernard sheriff would take appropriate disciplinary action. If something false has been alleged in the lawsuit, he said he would consider countercharges of defamation of character. He said that he and the sheriff were animal lovers.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3265151&page=1

Wow. Even I think that's just bogus and I'm not that big of an animal fan. Aren't there stations or other places where stray animals can get stored until someone claims them?

Some of those animals were probably either too stressed out from the hurricane or sick from the nasty water so it was only wise to get rid of some of them.

One can only wonder what the owners of some of these animals said when they found this out?

When you annoint Michael Vick as the president of FEMA, what do you expect?

bringbackwigs wrote:

When you annoint Michael Vick as the president of FEMA, what do you expect?

He should be banned from all professional sports.

rohrya wrote:

bringbackwigs wrote:

When you annoint Michael Vick as the president of FEMA, what do you expect?

He should be banned from all professional sports.

Don't worry about that. By the time he gets out of prison he'll be too old to land an announcer job.