Katrina victim, 86, sues to have his rescued poodle returned

[Bunny]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06176/701024-84.stm


<snip>
When Malvin Cavalier fled to the Superdome as Hurricane Katrina bore down on his home in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, he left a bucket of food and pail of water on the front porch for his poodle, Bandit.

"I figured, 'I'll be in the Superdome, the storm hits, I'll be back in a couple of days, go back home and Bandit'll be there and everything will be normal again,' " Mr. Cavalier said.

That was Aug. 28.

Today, Mr. Cavalier is living in an apartment in Houston, waiting for a new home in New Orleans. Bandit was last seen somewhere in the Pittsburgh area, brought here by the head of a local animal rights group and given to a woman whose attorney has suggested Mr. Malvin, 86, was unfit to care for the animal.
<snip>


This dog should be returned to its owner in NOLA. How can anyone possibly think they deserve to keep this pet? To state that the original owner was neglectful, and therefore doesn't deserve to have his dog back, is just despicable.

[NV Whino]

1. This really pisses me off

They wouldn't allow pets to go with their owners--in busses or in the Super Dome. And now they are declaring those owners, who would much rather have taken their pets with them, neglectful.

Let's try incompetent. And let's apply it to the federal government, not the evacuees.

[Libby2]

2. It pisses me off too.

Assholes, we are surrounded by incompetent assholes.

[man4allcats]

3. Give the man back his dog.

This is terrible. Sometimes people just make me sick!

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Cold and heartless.

This woman refuses to return a dog to an 86 year old man? Poor dog has no clue that the man who loved him and cared for him is still out there.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rockymountaindem]

9. Do your mom and dad know you're on the computer?

And is it past your bedtime?

If you ever come back, I suggest you get some troll training somewhere.

As for me, I'm off to the movies. I hope to see you tombstoned by the time I get back.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. F*ckers. Like the man hasn't lost ENOUGH ALREADY?!!@#$

:grr: :nuke:

GIVE MR. CAVALIER HIS DOG BACK....NOW!

[progdonkey]

7. "no one anticipated the failure of the levies"

So, Bush is off the hook for leaving an entire city to drown because "no one anticipated the failure of the levies," but this old guy is "neglectful" for leaving his dog with water and food at his home, because he really didn't know how bad it was going to be?

Let's get Republican morals straight:

Leaving hundreds of thousands of blacks to drown in what you know is going to be a massive hurricane because they didn't vote for you is promoting personal responsibility and showing resolute leadership.

An old man leaving his dog with provisions because he can't take the dog with him for what he thinks will just be a few days when he thinks the hurricane will just be a big storm, but nothing catastrophic, is being neglectful.


Well, blacks are beneath dogs as far as the GOP is concerned.

[blue sky at night]

8. If it were me.......

I would not have, and could not have left the dog. That to me is the real problem here.

[lindisfarne]

19. I agree, but some people weren't in a position to have a choice. If

they were, they probably would have left New Orleans before the storm. (Although there *were* enough idiots who could have left and decided to *stick it out* because *they had always stuck it out and nothing had happened*. These are the people who should have been charged with child neglect/abuse if they had children which stayed with them and pet neglect/abuse if they had pets with stayed with them. Anyone with a car should have left. Even if money for a hotel was an issue, I would have slept in the car with kids/pets before I would stay when authorities are telling me to evacuate. Although the situation with evacuees from Houston sitting on the interstate for hours complicates things ...)

[Rowdyboy]

10. Guys like this give the Animal Rights movement a bad name.....

What a worthless POS to treat a widowed 86 year old man. The prick reeks with sanctimonious hypocrisy.

[Mace_Windex]

11. the guy's dumb

This guy expects us to believe that it was too dangeorus for him to be home, so he ran but a little poodle would be safe enough to stay? I don't think so!
If things were going to get bad enough for him to evacuate, he should've brought his dog with him. Doing something like that shows it could be in a safer home. Let's not continue to reward idiots, people.

[salin]

12. just guessing that pets were not allowed in the Superdome. Don't think

it was an option.

[Bunny]

13. You're right. This was included in the article, which some people

apparently didn't bother to read.

[SmokingJacket]

16. What choice did he have?

Come on!

[dsc]

14. it is amazing this man is still alive

and I sincerely hope that if it takes a suit he gets the right kind of judge. One who will throw the law library at Ms. Fox.

[smokey nj]

15. This really pisses me off

Force people to make a decision, evacuate and leave your pet or risk staying with them. Then accuse them of neglect if they decide to evacuate. The man has lost enough, let him have his dog.

[aaronbees]

18. Same here...

The double-standard and paternalism shown this man just boggles my mind. He had NO choice but to leave Bandit and, hopefully, get back in a couple days. Well, we all know what happened then ... and it sure wasn't his fault.

After all he's been through in life, he deserves to have his friend back. Good grief, this story makes me angry.

[lindisfarne]

17. Failure to provide people with evacuation of pets is the real problem.

(In addition to the failure to evacuate the poor in New Orleans before the storm). The fact that the dog was left in the man's home probably saved its life - who knows what would have happened to it when the man was forced to abandon the dog because they weren't allowing pets on the buses taking people out of the Superdome? Although one could wonder why the dog was left outside?
But it is true that some of the animal-rights folks are a bit nutso (and this is from a person who gets *very* upset when I even see a cat which is allowed to wander outside).

[idgiehkt]

20. if people think its bad now just wait til next time.

The Louisiana state vet has really dug in her heals and has clamped down hard, even though people are trying to get the PETS act passed. She is saying she won't allow any state vets in, any animal rescue facilities won't be announced til right before the storm, the people have to care for their pets themselves and if they don't show up for two consecutive days the pets will be euthanized...plus they are going to harass the crap out of the out of state rescue people next time, despite the fact that they saved around 15,000 animals. (Out of 250k that were left in that area during the storm

[smokey nj]

21. In other words.........

Compassion is absolutely out of the question.