Dogs with a cause
No one ever expected a dog shelter would become a popular attraction. But this is New Orleans, where the cemeteries are tourist destinations and folks will stand in line for an hour to get a small hunk of dough thrown into a deep fryer. Founder of Villalobos Rescue Center (Villalobos means “village of wolves”) Tia Maria Torres opened her first shelter more than 20 years ago near Los Angeles. She paired abandoned pups, mostly the maligned and misunderstood pit bulls, with prison parolees who needed jobs and proved to be ideal caretakers. Pit Bulls & Parolees, a reality TV series about Torres’ program on Animal Planet, ratcheted up the profile for Villalobos, landing Torres on programs like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and attracting four times as many orphan dogs to her shelter.
After Hurricane Katrina, Torres moved Villalobos and the TV crews to New Orleans because she felt the area most needed her efforts. The New Orleans shelter is in a kind of sketchy neighborhood, right at the base of the bridge crossing over the Industrial Canal and into the Lower Ninth Ward. It’s easy to spot, as it occupies a huge 50,000-square-foot warehouse with approximately 400 dogs on the premises at any given time. Her bills to run the center are over $40,000 a month, paid for mainly through donations (all tax deductible of course).
Info
Address 525 N Claiborne Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117, +1 504.948.4505, www.vrcpitbull.net | Hours Tue–Fri noon–3pm, Sat noon–2pm| Tip Mardi Gras is often misperceived as girls-gone-wild, frat-party debauchery. The fastest way to dispel the myth is to point to the Krewe of Barkus Parade, which comprises dogs dressed up according to the theme of the year padding alongside or riding on floats through the French Quarter. The Barkus Parade always occurs two Sundays before Fat Tuesday.
Villalobos has become a hidden gem for visitors in the know, offering informational tours during limited hours. Come and look, but keep in mind that this is a place of business and not just a reality-TV set. Autograph seekers or cell-phone paparazzi are not encouraged here (though respectfully taken photos are allowed). If you’re looking to volunteer, Villalobos is often in need of “Nightwalkers.” The zombie-sounding name simply involves going out with a group (never alone) to give special-needs dogs some much-needed exercise.
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