Oct. 4, 2005 — National animal groups are beginning to withdraw staff and volunteers from the New Orleans area more than five weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, according to the Humane Society of the United States in a recent press release.

The groups will turn their rescue and sheltering operations over to the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), which has been providing animal control services to New Orleans for more than 50 years, said the Humane Society in the release.

The exodus is in part the result of a mandate by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, which on Friday, Sept. 30, put an end to all animal rescues based out of the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, La.

The Expo Center has served as a staging site for rescues and a temporary shelter for pets since the first days of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"There is still considerable work to do in Louisiana, and to a lesser extent Mississippi, but as people move back into New Orleans and start to reassemble their lives, the state believes that the Louisiana SPCA and the teams it credentials should be able to handle the job," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, in the release.

The new headquarters for the search-and-rescue mission in New Orleans will be located in a converted, 45,000-square-foot warehouse in Algiers, La. The Louisiana SPCA expects to open the semi-permanent facility on Friday, Oct. 7.

Until then, rescued animals will be taken to one of two veterinary clinics in Orleans Parish, while critical cases — as well as any overflow from the clinics — will be sent to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, said the release.

Dave Pauli, incident commander at the Expo Center, told the Humane Society that he aims to shut down operations at the facility on Oct. 10, but may extend them a few days if necessary.

Since Sept. 1, over 5,000 animals have been moved through the EXpo Center, which has a temporary intake area complete with decontamination baths and an "export area" where animals are vaccinated and processed before leaving on transport trucks for other shelters.

The facility, which has already scaled back its operations, will ship its remaining animals — 439 dogs, 149 cats and five rabbits as of Oct. 3 — to other shelters before it closes its doors in mid-October, said the press release.

The Humane Society of the United States plans to give any remaining food and supplies left at the Expo Center to the Louisiana SPCA, and will help the organization rebuild its permanent headquarters in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, which was wiped out by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"The (Humane Society of the United States) will continue to help stablize (the Louisiana) SPCA's new operations so that the group can carry on its mission in New Orleans for another 50 years, and longer," said Pacelle in the release.