UPDATE: October 10, 2013 5:00pm

It's official! Braveheart is going to the vet and then going home to his foster family. Even better, the person who locked him in the storage unit has been arrested. More details to come! On a side note, good things happen when our community gets involved!

Posted October 10, 2013 10:33AM

Facebook

My friend Kelly alerted me to this story last night and I hope that we can all let our voices be heard regarding this horrifying situation.

Several weeks ago, a four-month old puppy was found inside an abandoned storage unit by the facility owners.

At first sight they assumed the puppy was dead. After picking up the emaciated puppy's body, they saw an eyelid flicker. Amazingly, against all odds, the puppy was alive after enduring wicked Louisiana temperatures in a locked storage unit, chained to a car with no food or water on a hard concrete floor.

The Pitbull puppy, since named Braveheart, was taken directly to Dr. Conduff at the Emergency Animal Clinic. After life saving treatments, Braveheart was taken in by TSR La Baby Mommas, an active rescue group in our area.

Braveheart was fostered by Bo and Ronda Spataro. Ronda is a vet tech for Benton Animal Hospital. Braveheart weighed in at only 8lbs as a four month old puppy. Within three short weeks of being discovered, he gained another 8 lbs!

You would think the story would end there with a happy ending, but it doesn't. The story has now gone national, and now, a month later, is finally being investigated, even though a police report was filed when the dog was found. Braveheart was seized by Caddo Animal Control yesterday and is being held in isolation during the investigation. Apparently, he is, at this point, parish property.

Let us all pray this is not a death sentence. He has a family willing and able to foster him back to health. Please sign the petition to have Braveheart returned to the Spataros.

From Facebook:

For those of you who are confused about the whole Hope For Braveheart situation, this is what is going on. Braveheart was locked inside an abandoned storage unit in Shreveport. He is a pitbull and was only 8lbs at 4 months old. Luckily, he was rescued and was placed in the loving arms of TSR LA Baby Mommas with a foster family who also was a vet tech. Braveheart was receiving round the clock carewith the family and no doubtly was recovering. But because this is a cruelty case and because no waiver was signed to legally give Braveheart to Baby Mommas, Caddo Animal Control has seized the dog and is now living in a cold kennel all alone. Caddo Animal Control has told Baby Mommas that they can not collect donations for Braveheart and has also asked to return what was given to them for his fund. We understand that he is 'evidence'. We understand that 'it is the law'. But we are humans and we should also have a thing called 'reasoning' or 'common sense'. WHAT WE NEED NOW IS DEMAND FOR CHANGE!: HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP!

-Sign the Petition!

-EMAIL ALL OF THE COMMISSIONERS AND ADMINISTRATOR EVERYDAY. Everett Harris & animal control reports directly to them. Yes, you the tax payers are paying his $92,000 a year salary to kill 90% of the animals that go through there.

-wwilson@caddo.org

-ddominick@caddo.org

-ljohnson@caddo.org

-michael.williams@caddo.org

-mlinn@caddo.org

-jbowman@caddo.org

-lbaker@caddo.org

-slynch@caddo.org

-jescude@caddo.org

-mthibodeaux@caddo.org

-dcox@caddo.org

-jsmith@caddo.org

-kepperson@caddo.org

-Email everyone, everyday, and tell them we will no longer tolerate an animal control director whose does not work for the animals and with the community. We are paying him, and he also has to answer to us! Voice your personal complaints about the shelter to the commissioners. Put it in writing every encounter or every negative account that you have had with Everett and the shelter. It is all on one man to help us change our community! It is all on one man to make our community a NO-KILL Community!

And lastly, share this with everyone!!

So, if I'm reading this right, TSR LA Baby Mommas can no longer take donations earmarked for Braveheart, in fact, they are being asked to give all donations made in his name back. BUT, that doesn't stop you from donating in general sense... to aid in future cases. Also, during further reading online, I've seen it mentioned several times that Animal Control can placed with someone other than Caddo during the course of the investigation. Let's pray this happens!