The Ryan Newman Foundation

The Ryan Newman Foundation (RNF) enriches the lives of people and animals throughout the nation. On NASCAR Day 2009, we would like to spotlight the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary (SFAS), one of the organizations we met during our Hurricane Katrina animal rescue initiative back in 2005 when they were highly recommended to the RNF by Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS) in Utah. SFAS serves people and pets in the Gulf Coast from St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana to Tylertown, Mississippi, where their sanctuary is located.  The RNF has donated $10,968 to SFAS between 2005 and 2009.

SFAS was founded in 2000 by Pam Perez and her daughter Heidi Krupp, who passed away in 2008.  In 2005, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, SFAS partnered with BFAS in order to help save animals left behind in the aftermath of the hurricane.  SFAS worked with BFAS for nine months after the hurricane and saved the lives of 4,000 pets. 

Since Hurricane Katrina, SFAS has grown and continues to rescue companion animals, spay/neuter them, and find them lifelong homes.  What’s new at SFAS?  An population explosion of rat terriers!  Here is the full story, courtesy of St. Francis Animal Sanctuary...

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St. Francis Animal Sanctuary (SFAS) has recently taken custody of nearly 30 rat terriers!

We had been fielding calls for months from concerned family members about a woman that was, quite literally, being overrun with rat terriers. This woman started out with two terriers and neglected to get them spayed and neutered. Well, as you can imagine, nature took it course and litter after litter of puppies began arriving.

Now, several years later, she found herself with a herd of uncontrollable terriers! She finally contacted SFAS for help because the situation had become more and more unmanageable. The dogs had not been socialized properly and they had formed their own pack - and she was no longer the leader! They began showing aggression towards her and she was afraid they would eventually attack and seriously injure her. She and the dogs all lived in a small three bedroom mobile home. Due to the sheer number of dogs, she was unable to sleep or eat in peace. Her family members were unable to visit because the dogs would attack anyone that came onto the property. She had become a prisoner of her own home, and the dogs were the wardens! 

We decided to go and check out the situation. When we arrived, it was absolute mayhem! Dogs were spilling out of the trailer doors and swarming all around the yard. Many of the adult dogs began circling us and tried to attack us - we had to retreat back to our van for safety! We realized the severity of the situation and made arrangements to capture all the dogs.

We returned the next day and began herding up the dogs. When we entered the trailer to get the pregnant females and some newborn puppies, we were nearly driven right back out by the smell. The dogs had destroyed the trailer. They had torn up all the furniture, eaten holes in the walls, destroyed the flooring and the place reeked with urine and ammonia - the air was so thick with it that we were all choking and gagging and our eyes were burning and tearing. We practically had to tear one bed apart just to get to the puppies that were living underneath the urine soaked mattress.

Once we had loaded up the dogs, we transported them to the sanctuary where we had already set up temporary outdoor pens for the adults and indoor kennels for the three pregnant females. We split the adults into same sex pairs and settled them in. It was a huge undertaking, but we're satisfied that we were able to get these dogs out of those horrible conditions and into a safe and healthy environment.

Fortunately, all of the dogs appear to be pretty healthy. They will all need spay and neuter, of course, as well as vaccinations, boosters, de-worming, and topical flea and tick treatments. Our primary focus, once we've met their medical needs, is to work with them to resolve their behavior issues. Breaking the pack into smaller groups has already made a huge difference - now we can work with them individually to rehabilitate and socialize them properly.

They are beautiful dogs and we believe that they could ALL be great adoption candidates. The youngest pups will be easy to rehabilitate since they have not had as much time with the "pack". The adult dogs will need more time and work, but it will be worth it in the end when they all find their forever homes.

Click here if you'd like more information about our upcoming adoption event. You can meet the terriers as well as many other fantastic dogs - maybe you'll find a new best friend!  You can also view a slide show of all the available dogs by clicking here.

ST. FRANCIS ANIMAL SANCTUARY, TYLERTOWN, MS