MuttShack

MuttShack was formed in 2005 and operated as a non-profit under the umbrella of the National Heritage Foundation until it received its independent non-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2006. Initially, MuttShack's primary focus was shelter rescue. MuttShack responded to Hurricane Katrina and established the only free full service triage facility in the Ci... ty of New Orleans where our volunteers rescued and provided critical care to over 3,000 animals. Shortly after Katrina, as area shelters (most with extremely high kill rates) became overwhelmed with abandoned and owner-surrendered animals, MuttShack began focusing on mass shelter rescue - transporting entire shelter populations to viable metro areas such as Atlanta and New York where, in cooperation with local media and area rescue and humane groups, all animals found loving, life-long homes. In Spring 2006 MuttShack worked with Louisiana Sen. Clo Fontenot and his staff on passage of the Pets Act, which later became state law and ultimately paved the way for the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act which amended the Stafford Act. The Act ensures that people would no longer be forced to evacuate without their pets. "The Katrina Promise" became MuttShack's ongoing mission and the organization began working with local, state and federal authorities with which it had formed cooperative relationships during its Katrina rescue efforts, (including the Louisiana State Animal Response Team, the LA Department of Transportation, the LA Dept. of Agriculture, The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, FEMA and the USDA) - to establish mass pet transport protocols and to plan for the mass evacuation of shelters and mass pet populations in vulnerable coastal regions. In August 2008, after 3 years of training, numerous Parish and State evacuation exercises (as a LA State partner to the LA DOTD and LA DAF), MuttShack helped successfully launch the largest mass evacuation of pets in U.S. history 36 hours before Hurricane Gustav's landfall (and nearly 3 ...Read More