By ROBERT B. ROAN

SOUTH VACHERIE – “I have no breeds. I have the garbage of the animal world,” Elaine Young said when asked about the types of animals she rescues and then houses at her expansive property on picturesque Lac Des Allemands. “I get these animals because people abandon them on the highway or at the boat launch.

“They (the owners) don’t know what to do with them, so they just throw them out.”

Young, better known in some circles as the “West Bank’s animal control officer,” presently takes care of 77 dogs and a baker’s dozen of cats in and all around her home in the southern section of St. John the Baptist Parish. Her charges consume more than 300 pounds of food each day and receive regular veterinary maintenance, along with a daily dose of loving kindness, from their soft-hearted caretaker.

A native of Gretna, Young has lived on the picturesque lake for more than 25 years. She shares the residence, which sits on nine lots and is bordered on three sides by water, with her 37-year-old son, Troy, and of course, the scores of once-lost and now found canines and felines.

“I moved out to the lake (from Jefferson Parish) because my son was deaf and it was easier to raise a deaf child in a pirogue than on a bicycle in the city,” Young said. “Out here I didn’t have to worry about someone running over him, but now, people have these huge bass boats with 200-horsepower engines on them and the swamp is not as safe as they used to be.”

An animal lover from an early age, Young recounts with ease how she has taken in several hundred animals over the years and made sure each was properly fed, received a medical examination, given a dry place for it to rest its head and paws, and finally, but equally as important, a thoroughly thought out moniker, especially for the dogs, to distinguish it as a living and feeling object rather than an inanimate piece of refuse.

“A dog has to have a name,” Young explained. “That is the only thing they have … they don’t have anything else.”

As an example, the oldest canine in residence is a 13-year-old “big, black dog” named Molly McButter. Another is a good-natured Rottweiler-Doberman pinscher mix, “Thibodaux,” so-named because he was discovered by Young during a regular sojourn to the Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter in Thibodaux. The friendly adolescent dog had been neutered, a sign he was someone’s pet prior to being displaced on the side of a rural thoroughfare, and he was a member of the shelter’s “death row” when an angel of mercy passed his enclosure.

“He had been somebody’s baby but he had been thrown out like so many of the others,” Young said. “Thibodaux was skin and bones, weighing about one-third of what he should have at his age, and yet he had a sweet disposition and we connected with just one look.

“I have a story for every one of my animals but his story is truly special. To see him now, you wouldn’t even recognize him as the same dog I found at the shelter.”

In addition to Molly and Thibodaux, the roster includes Fifi, Sparky, Shorty (Pictured on Page 1A with Young), Midnight, Joeline, Abbie, Baba, and some who have been in residence only a day or two and therefore have not received proper title. Once they receive a name it does not take long for each to know it and for Young to recall it as well.

When asked how she could possibly remember each and every animal resident’s name, Young, with a broad smile on her face, said, “You remember the names of all of the people you meet, don’t you? Especially someone who makes a positive impression on you, right? Well every one of these little angels has made a positive impression on me.”

Portable and semi-permanent shelters dot the one-acre landscape around Young’s house and the dogs are free to roam the property and call it their own. As a care-giver, Young begins each day around 6 a.m. with a feeding, cleaning, interacting and additional feeding routine. Area stores, non-profit agencies and local residents provide her with a portion, either through bulk discounts or outright donations, of the enormous amount of food required by the animals.

Trailers provide shelter for the dogs, while the kitty cats reside in “big cat condominiums” arranged within Young’s residence. One of the trailers comes complete with a television set, an air conditioner and a heater.

“The dogs choose where they want to stay and they stay together in little groups,” Young said with a chuckle. “They have little societies and it is like a dog city.

“I sometimes feel like I am a supervisor at a juvenile delinquent facility.”

Once or twice a year Westwego veterinarian, Dr. Kathleen Brown, travels to the compound for a “huge house call.” Brown looks over as many of the animals as possible, especially any new arrivals who may be too young, too old or severely mistreated to ward off any number of parasitic or bacterial maladies, and she gives out numerous shots of differing strengths and applications.

“I cannot understand how someone could take a puppy, let’s say, and because it has some medical problem they throw it out like yesterday’s bath water,” Young said. “They are supposed to love this animal but people cannot deal with things in their life that are not perfect.

“These little animals have feelings and they need someone to protect them. So I take them in and I tell them, ‘You are OK now. You are not going to go hungry and I will take care of you if it takes my very last dime.'”

A retired school bus driver, Young has earned a reputation in the surrounding community for taking in the unwanted and for utilizing all of her talents to bring compassion to countless four-legged creatures.

“She is a godsend for us as far as I am concerned,” said St. John the Baptist Parish Animal Shelter manager Linda Allen. “Due to our budget, we only have one animal control officer to cover the entire parish and we cannot adequately serve the other (west) side of the (Mississippi) river.

“Elaine has a heart of gold and she is our unofficial animal control officer for the West Bank.”

Allen recalled how over the years animals, whole litters often stashed in boxes or bags, were left at Young’s door by citizens ill-equipped or simply unwilling to furnish the newborns decent care. The shelter manager, someone used to bearing witness to animal neglect, talked indignantly concerning those who routinely abandon dogs, tied at the neck to the gate leading to Young’s property, for someone else, notably Elaine, to ultimately deal.

“When she sees an animal in need or hears about an animal in need of a good home, she doesn’t ask particulars, she takes that dog or cat in and treats it as if it were something truly special,” Allen said. “I could go on and on about Elaine because God only made one like her.”

Editor’s Note: Each Saturday, L’Observateur will feature an article about a special River Parishes’ resident and the good works associated with the person. If you would like to nominate someone contact Robert Roan at 985-652-9545 or send an e-mail to lobnews@bellsouth.net.