Building a better Humane Society
For man’s best friend in Louisiana, “in the doghouse” is shaping up to be a pretty sweet place to be.
Barkitecture, the Louisiana Humane Society’s inaugural doghouse building competition, encourages participants to merge architecture and creativity with the construction of a fully functional doghouse.
The contest has garnered 11 entries, all of which have a floor, three walls, a roof and must be waterproof — but otherwise, have no rules and are uniquely the creation of the artist with man’s best friend in mind.
“How could I say no?” said Dawn Laufenberg of Rustik Nola, one of the two recycling firms who entered the contest. Laufenberg plans to donate her submission to the Louisiana Humane Society. “It’s such a wonderful thing; I mean, the fact that a dog is going to get a home!”
Two architectural firms and one bank have also entered the contest, which is open to all students, youth, individuals and businesses. A panel of celebrity judges will determine the winner for all categories except “People’s Choice” at noon on Aug. 16 at Lakeside Mall, where the entries will be on display. The judging follows the Humane Society’s “Strut for Pups” pledge walk inside Lakeside Mall, which begins at 11 a.m.
In the workshop behind his house, Metairie resident Jerry Poland built a doghouse for the competition with his two children, 12-year-old Kiki and 9-year-old Willie.
“The kids designed it,” Poland said. “They did all the caulking, sanding and painting, I did the cutting.”
It took the trio about 8 days, working 3-4 hours per day, to finish the doghouse project, which they have decided to donate to the competition.
The Louisiana Humane Society was founded in 1988. According to executive director Jeff Dorson, the organization was forced to evacuate 158 animals from the Algiers shelter to Mississippi during Katrina — four vanloads of animals — and never received any funding to rebuild.
Like all charities, the Louisiana Humane Society relies on membership drives, special events, grants, bequests, and online appeals to raise operating funds.
“These types of events are so important to us to reestablish,” Dorson said. “We’ve been struggling for nine years to find our footing, and we still have a population of Katrina rescued animals in our care. Nine years later, they’ve grown up with us, and they are not adoptable.”
Some of the pets rescued from Katrina were feral, Dorson explains.
“They have antisocial behaviors,” Dorson said. “The cats were half alive when we found them. We can’t place a feral cat, so we take it in the chin and pay for their care. We pulled them out of the wreckage and have pledged to care for them. We aren’t going to euthanize them.”
Of the more than 5,000 humane societies in the United States, none are related, Dorson explained.
“The name confuses people because they think the national organizations share money and resources with smaller societies, but there is no sharing,” Dorson said. “Everybody is on their own. We’re still affected by Katrina and none of the national groups have come to our aid, although we’ve reached out. The public threw money at these national groups after Katrina, but there’s been no sharing.”
Dorson said the organization recently acquired 47 acres in Washington Parish and is in the beginning phases of rebuilding. Some of the donated doghouses from the competition will be used in the new facility. Others will be auctioned off to raise funds for the organization, and some will be donated to low-income dog owners in the greater New Orleans area.
“We’re still a grassroots, small potatoes thing,” Dorson said, even though the Louisiana Humane Society is the only statewide agency that takes calls from all 64 parishes and coordinates cruelty investigations and animal seizures with sheriff offices that don’t have resources, manpower or training.
“Half of 64 parishes in our state don’t have a single shelter or animal services,” Dorson said. “It’s really the Wild West. Little towns can’t afford shelters and there’s a lack of regulations for animal shelters in the state.”
Dorson said three different workers were arrested recently for animal cruelty. He expects Barkitecture to grow exponentially each year and hopes special events such as these will help raise awareness for the need for resources.
Visit humanela.org for more information.
Published in The New Orleans Advocate, August 14, 2014.