HIGHLIGHTS OF THE Louisiana SPCA Timeline: Unleashing Hearts

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE Louisiana SPCA Timeline:
Unleashing Hearts Since 1888
1884 Under the leadership of Eliza Poitevent Holbrook Nicholson, 1885 Louisiana state law is passed providing penalties for cruelty to 1888 Louisiana legislation passed authorizing the formation of SPCA 1890 The Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to owner and manager of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, a small meeting is held at the St. Charles Hotel. By meeting’s end, the Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is created to stop the mistreatment of horses and mules used as draft animals. Bradish Johnson, a New Orleans sugar plantation owner, is elected President. owned animals. The law is unenforceable since no organizations have been given authority. organizations and their agents to be commissioned as “peace officers.” In October 1888 the New Orleans City Council adopts the necessary ordinances and charters the Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Henry D. Forsyth (son‐
in‐law of Bradish Johnson) is elected the President.
The Statue of Hebe (Greek Goddess of Youth) ‐ dedicated in 1890. The first of 50 drinking fountains for people, horses and dogs that the Society placed around the City. Animals dedicates its first drinking fountain for people, horses and dogs, The Statute of Hebe. The Society will go on to add 50 more fountains around the city. The fountain was located in what is now the streetcar line at Canal Street and N. Peters. Original Seal of the Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – 1888. Text from “The Sacred Street,” penned by the Society in the 1910’s: “. . .who find the time to raise their hands for the
protection of even the least of these dumb beasts, and
who raise them with such effectiveness that, even
when the streets seem empty the spirit signs give
warning and pass, unwhipped and unmolested. . .”
1906 The state legislature passes Act. No. 179 which commissions the members of the Board of Directors of the Society with “full power to patrol the streets with a proper and suitable dog wagon. . .to efficiently and humanely catch and impound such unlicensed, lost, stray, homeless and wandering dogs found on the streets of New Orleans.” 1906 – One of the Society’s two Horse Ambulances 1924 The Society opens a free clinic on Saturdays operating from 9 a.m. to Noon. The free clinic is the first of many variations of veterinary services provided to the public that the organization will offer in its 125 year history – from free, to low cost, to the current high‐volume spaying and neutering and wellness clinic. 1927‐ The Society’s location at 7249 Washington Avenue
1931 The Louisiana SPCA embroiled in a huge controversy and litigation 1907 – The Society’s New Dog Wagon
ensued around requirement to provide stray dogs to local medical schools for research and vivisection. This discussion and issue will last for 30 years. Louisiana SPCA never sells dogs and refuses to give them up when requested. 1946 The Society is incorporated in the State of Louisiana and the 1948 The Louisiana SPCA creates its Humane Education Program. Society removes the word “State” from its name and becomes the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Louisiana SPCA, i.e. LA/SPCA), serving the City of New Orleans.
Louisiana SPCA’s Humane Education program continues to be one of the mainstay programs of the organization.
1951-53 Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament at Xavier University bring a civil court case against the Louisiana SPCA for disturbing the peace. The convent is located across the street. Courts side with the Sisters. The Louisiana SPCA issues an urgent Public Notice requesting a property owner who will sell or lease it “a suitable piece of property.” In response, Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison offers to sell the SPCA ground adjacent to and east of the Elysian Fields overpass. However, that plan falls through. Ultimately, the organization moves to an abandoned firehouse, Station No.12, at 1529 Tchoupitoulas.
1956 The Louisiana SPCA announces plans to build a 500‐dog capacity pound at Japonica and Urquhart Streets that will cost $100,000.
Late 1930’s – Officer Columbus W. Smith, Head of the Society’s Dog Wagon
1958 In May, the Louisiana SPCA opens its new animal shelter at 1319 Japonica Street at a cost of $200,000.
1959 The Louisiana SPCA takes a formal stance against giving up animals to local universities for vivisection. Membership quadruples and donations increase 75%.
1963 The Louisiana SPCA defies ordinance requiring it to provide dogs for research. Universities complain they are not receiving the animals they requested for vivisection. City threatens to take away animal control contract but eventually relents. The Louisiana SPCA expands the Japonica Street shelter to provide a new animal clinic built with private donations. The clinic serves sick and injured animals whose owners cannot afford their treatment as well as injured animals whose owners cannot be 1975 found. By the second year of operations, the clinic logs over 15,000 visits. The clinic operated continuously in this manner until Hurricane Katrina struck the city in August 2005. 1980 The Louisiana SPCA introduces resolution to City Council to ban 1984 The Louisiana SPCA and the Jefferson SPCA persuade the From the Times Picayune Archives – January 1959 article about the New Home for the SPCA, which was completed in May 1958 at 1310 Japonica Street. the use of horse and mule‐drawn carriages in the French Quarter but the measure is defeated 4‐2. A month later a plan is worked out with the City Council to have French Quarter horses phased out in favor of mules.
Louisiana legislature to approve a bill making dog fighting a state felony and succeed.
1985 Debbie Haslam, in gratitude to the Louisiana SPCA for their care of a stray cat that she adopted, asked her husband Ed (an advertising jingle writer) to write a jingle about the LA/SPCA after seeing the negative response the organization received following an article on euthanasia at the shelter. The :60 second jingle was named “You Can Find a Friend on Japonica Street,” and was composed and performed by famed New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint. To this day, New Orleanians can still sing the infectious tune and the shelter itself is synonymous with the name Japonica. 1985‐ “You Can Find a Friend on Japonica Street” – Allen Toussaint, Ed Haslam & LA/SPCA friend “Kai” – photographed for the 1985 Fall Membership newsletter. 1991 As a fundraiser, the Louisiana SPCA publishes and sells a cookbook titled La Bone Cuisine: Favorite Recipes of Favorite New Orleans restaurants. The cookbook sells for $11.95. The cook book was a highly popular fundraiser for many years. The public continues to request that the organization re‐publish the cookbook, which is no longer in print. 1998 Louisiana SPCA successfully evacuates its shelter animals for 1991 – One of the Society’s most popular fundraisers – a cookbook featuring recipes from the city’s favorite restaurants. Hurricane Georges. The project cost $25,000 and was the first evacuation in the organization’s history. 2002 New Orleans City Council voted 7‐0 to establish stricter minimum standards of care for pets. The law prohibits tethering as a primary means of confining an animal, requires that domestic animals be protected from freezing weather and sets standards for transporting animals in vehicles such as pickup trucks. 2005 In March and May of 2005, the Louisiana SPCA partnered with the State Police on three major dogfighting busts, including the raid of one of the largest pit bull breeding and training operations in the U.S. 2005 In August, in advance of Hurricane Katrina making landfall the 2005 In October, with the Japonica Street facility a total loss, the Louisiana SPCA safely evacuated 263 animals housed at the shelter. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, with the help of hundreds of volunteers and animal welfare colleagues, the organization led the largest animal rescue operation in U.S. history. 2005 – Television Coverage of 2005 Dogfighting Busts Louisiana SPCA sets up a temporary shelter in a coffee warehouse in the New Orleans community of Algiers. The organization continues re‐uniting lost pets with their owners and gradually resumes limited regular operations during its 19 months operating out of the temporary shelter. 2006 The Louisiana SPCA initiated and lobbied the successful passage in June of Louisiana Senate Bill 607 “the Pet Evacuation Bill,” model legislation for pets in disasters. 2005 – Hurricane Katrina Rescue Operation 2006 In July the Louisiana SPCA partners with Bella Doggie Spa to microchip 1,000 pets in 10 hours to prepare owners for the 2006 hurricane season 2006 In August, the Louisiana SPCA Partnered with the Musicians Clinic and St. Anna’s Episcopal Church to offer a traditional Jazz Funeral March and interfaith service for pets who died or were lost in Hurricane Katrina 2006 Louisiana SPCA holds a groundbreaking ceremony on August 31 at the site of the future LA/SPCA Dorothy Dorsett Brown Campus at 1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard in Algiers. 2006‐ Jazz Funeral March and Interfaith Service for the animals who died or were lost in Katrina 2007 In May the Louisiana SPCA holds the Grand Opening of their new 2006 – Lexie at the 2006 groundbreaking ceremony for the LA/SPCA future site at 1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard LA/SPCA Dorothy Dorsett Brown Campus at 1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard. 2008 The LA/SPCA resumes veterinary clinic services, albeit limited, for the public. The loss of a veterinary clinic for the public is one of the biggest losses in the aftermath of Katrina. The clinic focuses on Wellness Preventive Services and is only able to provide services one day a week and coins the name “Wellness Wednesdays.” By 2010, the services expanded to a temporary building with preventive services and high volume‐spaying and neutering available five days a week, known as the Louisiana SPCA Community Clinic. 2007 – Grand Opening of LA/SPCA’s new facility 2008 Resulting from successful lobbying efforts by the Louisiana SPCA at 1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard in Algiers 2008 Hurricane Gustav: Louisiana SPCA successfully coordinates the two years prior, cockfighting is officially banned in Louisiana, making it the last State in the nation to do so. evacuation of people with their pets marking the first time in the country that pets were a priority in a widespread mandatory evacuation. When people and their pets returned to New Orleans from evacuation shelters, the Louisiana SPCA re‐united 550 pets with their owners. 2008‐ Happy reunion at the LA/SPCA following evacuation for Hurricane Gustav 2008 – Hurricane Gustav Shelter Operation 2010 The Louisiana SPCA creates the Gulf Coast Companion Animal Relief Program for pet owners impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The organization transports 307 dogs from the areas impacted, and provides pet food and veterinary care to 435 companion animals. 2010 Deacon John records a new Louisiana SPCA jingle written by Phil Melancon. Additionally, Ed Haslam who wrote the jingle “You Can Find a Friend on Japonica Street,” writes a new jingle sung by Armand St. Martin. Both 2010 jingles highlight the Louisiana SPCA’s location on Mardi Gras Boulevard. 2012 The Louisiana SPCA’s public art project Paws on Parade, designed 2013 – cockfighting raid results in the largest raid in the organization’s history to raise awareness for animal welfare, covers the New Orleans landscape with large Mardi Gras Bead Dog sculptures, becoming one of the most successful public art projects in the city’s history. 2010 – Gulf Coast Companion Animal Relief Program online campaign graphic 2013 In March, the City Council adopts revised City Ordinances 2013 The Louisiana SPCA seizes over 600 roosters, chickens and hens regarding treatment of animals – the result of a successful collaboration with the LA/SPCA. It’s the first comprehensive revision of the animal ordinances in the past 15 years. from a New Orleans property in a cockfighting case– the largest animal seizure in the organization’s history. 2013 August 27, LA/SPCA celebrates 125 years and breaks ground on a new 40,000 square foot expansion. 2012 – A parade of Bead Dogs – raising awareness for animal welfare LA/SPCA Has a History in
Many New Orleans
Neighborhoods
The Louisiana SPCA is now located at 1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard in
Algiers – its home since May 2007. Many New Orleanians also
The Society’s building at 7249 Washington Avenue
remember our previous location on Japonica Street. However, many
may be surprised to learn that since 1888 the Louisiana SPCA has
been located in various New Orleans neighborhoods throughout its 125-year history.
1893-1900
1901
1906-1908
1908-1913
Early 1920’s
1921
1927-1953
1953-1958
1958-2005
2005–2007
2007–present
57 Carondelet Street (CBD)
606 Commercial Place
Girod Street area (near the former Girod Street Cemetery that was demolished in1957 and is now
the Superdome area)
805 Howard Avenue (Warehouse District)
Hermann-Grima House (French Quarter)
403 Baronne Street
7249 Washington Avenue (near Xavier University)
1529 Tchoupitoulas (Lower Garden District)
1319 Japonica Street (Ninth Ward)
701 Thayer Street (Algiers)
1700 Mardi Gras Boulevard (Algiers)