Billy Nungesser: Helping Animals By The Storm And Beyond

Louisiana’s 54th Lieutenant Governor and Enthusiastic Native Son’s Soft Spot for Animals Drives Him to Work Hard for Their Wellbeing

Billy Nungesser, the affable, charismatic and diligent lieutenant governor of Louisiana has been a nonstop cheerleader for the state and a hard-working public servant since he entered the world of government. Before being elected to office, Nungesser had zero desire to go into politics and was enjoying life as a successful entrepreneur who founded General Marine Leasing Company, an innovative multi-million-dollar business that transforms metal shipping containers into living spaces for offshore workers. But in 2005 Nungesser became saddened, frustrated and then irate after Hurricane Katrina annihilated his community in Plaquemines Parish and government response was pathetically slow. A big-hearted man fiercely determined to help others, instead of waiting around Nungesser got involved with aiding others and that ignited him to run for Plaquemines Parish president; he was elected twice in both 2006 and 2010. After witnessing how Louisiana and her citizens and wildlife got literally left in the muck due to the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Nungesser dug his heels in yet again to lend a hand and became so riled up he later ran for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, winning both his elections in 2015 and 2019. His efforts to restore and protect the Gulf Coast, increase important infrastructure and secure federal funding for levees have been invaluable to Louisiana. Today Nungesser gets to share his passion for the state and its fascinating culture with the world by working with tourism leaders, something that wouldn’t have happened if not for Katrina. Another silver lining from Katrina was that Nungesser wound up with his beloved dog Lil’ Bit, who entered his life during animal rescues that he, his wife Cher and some neighbors undertook around his Plaquemines Parish home in the aftermath of the storm.

“Lil’ Bit was probably the smartest dog I ever had,” says Nungesser of his precious pup. “We’d go out every day in the airboat and rescue cattle and elk; we’d get animals off of rooftops and out of trees.” At the time, Nungesser had a ranch where he raised cattle and elk and he was wrangling his own animals back home and rescuing any animals he came across displaced by the storm. “One night around dusk we were traveling back along the river batture, and the flood water was still surrounding our home which was on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River. We saw something move in the brush and circled back, and it was this dog on a board. When I grabbed her to put her in the boat she held on to the wood; she was in shock. When we got back to the house, we pulled the airboat up and all the animals jumped out but this dog just stayed. When I went to tie the boat up, she was still in it, so we brought her in the house, put her in the windowsill with a blanket and nursed her back to health. My wife kept asking, ‘Can we keep her?’ and I’d say, ‘Just for a little bit.’ That’s how she got her name.”

In the midst of the destruction and confusion following the storm, Lil’ Bit, a short-legged mixed breed dog about two years old at the time with Beagle and German Shepherd attributes and a belly that almost touched the ground, wound up becoming ‘with child.’ “We’d shuffle all the dogs we rescued up to the animal shelter every few days, and there was this yellow lab we called Yella that kept retrieving all the wood from out the storm,” says Nungesser, who along with Cher found the families of every animal they rescued except for Lil’ Bit’s and Yella’s, so they became part of the Nungesser family. “That dog! I told him, ‘You can’t get all the wood! Quit doin’ it!’ And he and Lil’ Bit ended up breeding and having puppies. I was able to find good homes for some before my wife fell in love with them and we kept Onyx, a female and Toby, a male. You’ve got to get rid of those puppies quick before you get too attached.”

Nungesser became smitten with Lil’ Bit and her remarkable personality. “She was probably the dog I had the longest and the one we were most attached to,” says Nungesser. “Lil’ Bit was like a person. You’d talk to her and she understood you. She knew when we were leaving when we got luggage out and she would give you those sad eyes or stand by the door and block you and bark at you, like ‘You shouldn’t be leaving me!’ She slept in the bed with us and in her later days we’d have to pick her up and set her down in the bed. When she was ready to get up, she’d bark and you’d have to go in there and get her. When she got older, we put a carpet runner down so her legs wouldn’t slide out from under her. She was a member of the family. It was incredible—she could feel your emotions. We had a special bond.”

Lil’ Bit passed away in January 2021 and shortly afterwards Onyx died in November 2021. The mother and daughter were two peas in a pod that followed each other everywhere. At one point, the Nungessers had Lil’ Bit, Yella, Onyx, Toby, Lucky, a pup rescued from a ditch along with her brothers Moe and Curly, and a Norwegian Elkhound named Bullet that Nungesser had before meeting Cher. And their brood didn’t stop at dogs.

“We would take in stray animals and put them all at the barn which was a shelter for a lot of pets,” says Nungesser, who may discover the name “Doolittle” in his family tree. “We had a cat with one eye, a cat with three legs. One day a cat scratched on my back door and I opened it and the cat jumped up on my kitchen table. Now that cat is my best friend. Another time a goose just followed me up the driveway. We had some ducks in our pond and every night this goose would flap his wings and yell and keep the coyotes away and protect those ducks. Every morning that goose would tap the back door and I’d sit on the back porch and pet the goose, and that goose would bite anybody else that came around, it really was funny! His name was Goose. Cher called him Goosie, and he pecked and chased her and everyone else. I raised elk and cattle and had horses and a family of donkeys, and the pets all got along. It was kind of a special family of pets.”

Currently the Nungessers have the cat that showed up from nowhere, whose name is Kitty Cat. “I’m good at those names, huh?” laughs Nungesser. “I never thought cats paid attention or listened, and this cat will stand by the back door to go out. At night when she’s in the bedroom she’ll call you if you’re in the kitchen late. She’s a great cat with a personality all her own.” Nungesser’s parents loved animals and he grew up with pets. “I had a St. Bernard named Kaiser and we always had weenie dogs and I’ve always loved animals.” After Hurricane Ida damaged their Plaquemines Parish home in August 2021, the Nungessers moved to Covington, Louisiana and are building a home. “Once we move in, we’ll venture to the shelter and adopt some more pets.”

The endless suffering of animals during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including the countless birds left languishing in the dark crude, made an impression on Nungesser. “It just broke my heart that we weren’t doing more to rescue and save those animals,” says Nungesser. “They didn’t want you to see that, so we brought that to TV to let the world know that they weren’t doing what they should be to rescue these animals so I got angry and ran for office again.” And Nungesser has regularly supported initiatives for the good of animals. With pet tourism on the rise globally, and while dogs were always allowed on trails and outdoor spaces at Louisiana State parks, since September 2020 dogs can stay overnight in cabins at 16 of those state parks with their families thanks to the Park with Pets policy, and Nungesser was thrilled to help effectuate that change. “A percentage of our cabins are dog friendly and you can bring up to two dogs per cabin,” says Nungesser. A surcharge of $40 per dog covers their entire stay. “That was important to get done and Louisiana’s weather is good most of the year so people can bring their pets to our state parks 12 months a year and enjoy them. People want to travel with their pets on vacations or trips, so it would be great for entrepreneurs to consider helping to build more of these pet-friendly cabins through public-private partnerships. Also, with dogs, people love that local communities are building dog parks where their pets can run free and visit with other dogs, as well as more pet-friendly Louisiana hotels being available.”

Forever a proponent of wildlife conservation, Nungesser encourages others to get out and see all of the wildlife Louisiana offers. “An incredible treat for kids is to experience the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, where they come in close contact with free-roaming bison, zebras and other animals from all over the world,” says Nungesser. “And we want kids to get out and see deer and all the birds at our state parks, and we actually have bears in the state parks in North Louisiana.”

Horse lovers abound in Louisiana and its horse industry, which generates over $2 billion annually, has been historically important to the state. “Horse racing has been a big part of Louisiana, and we’re promoting it at the different tracks around the state and trying to lure some major sporting events like a Breeder’s Cup to Louisiana,” says Nungesser, who along with the Louisiana Office of Tourism touts equestrian tourism. “We’re also highlighting horse breeding and other activities like recreational horseback riding at the state parks and we’re looking for more private-public partners to bring their horses into a park; we’ll give them space, help them clear the trails, they make money and it gives us another activity to offer in some of our state parks.”

That strong connection between horses and humans resonates with Nungesser, and before entering elected office he founded the Pointe Celeste Therapeutic Riding Center for mentally and physically challenged people, which brought joy to many mentally and physically challenged people through horseback riding during the years it was open. “I’d volunteered for a riding center in Laplace and saw this little girl’s life change when she got out of the wheelchair,” says Nungesser. “I went back the next week and lifted the same little girl and when we started to walk it began raining and they cancelled class, and that little girl gripped my hand and did not want to get back in that wheelchair. So I made a promise that day that if I could ever afford it, I’d build a covered arena where they’d never cancel class. Little did I know seven years later I’d sell my container company and build that arena. We had 20 specially trained horses that my wife and I stayed behind during Katrina to look after, and we were taking care of approximately 200 kids and adults with special needs at no cost to them or their families and I saw miracles happen. A little girl paralyzed at age seven was told she’d never walk again; I watched her dance at her wedding. It was pretty special.”

Nungesser gets involved with animal rescue efforts throughout the state. He’s served as a costume contest judge at the Jefferson SPCA’s Pet Fest in 2017 when the theme was “Barks and Recreation,” and has recently donated dinners at auction winners’ choice of restaurants anywhere in Louisiana for four guests with himself and Cher to fundraising events for the Northshore Humane Society in Covington and for the Acadiana Animal Aid in Lafayette. “Someone paid $8,000 for that dinner so that money will go to the shelter in Lafayette.” And as Plaquemines Parish president, Nungesser made life better for the homeless animals of his community.

“We had a cement block building where they didn’t do nice things to pets in Plaquemines, so when I got elected parish president we built a beautiful no-kill shelter to new green energy standards with a waiting room with cubby holes so you could see the cats and dogs,” says Nungesser. “We built it across from the ball fields so people could just walk across the street, and that helped up with adoption numbers. We did it a little differently: we had a public-private partnership and let the nonprofit PAWS (Plaquemines Animal Welfare Society) operate the shelter and had parish employees help out, and it worked well. It was new and creative; the animals got better care, it saved tax dollars and it was a win-win that we were very proud of.” Today the Plaquemines shelter is operated by the Louisiana SPCA.

Animal advocates in Louisiana hold a special place in Nungesser’s heart. “I thank all the volunteers and people that work in rescue and help find adoptions for animals,” says Nungesser. “They’re very special, caring people. We’re fortunate to have so many great organizations around the state that give their time and money to make that happen. Louisiana has a tremendous love for animals that you see all over the state. I’d walk door to door, campaigning in Plaquemines Parish, and people wouldn’t have one or two animals, they’d have three, four or five! That’s the norm in Louisiana. People without pets are missing out on unconditional love. Studies show that if you have pets, you live a longer, happier life and that is absolutely true.”

Nungesser’s unflinching concern and love for Louisiana, its people and its animals made him a natural for the role of lieutenant governor, and he’ll always be a constant champion for the state; soon, he may announce he’ll run for governor. “I tell people from all over that in Louisiana, people treat strangers like family,” says Nungesser. “They’re passionate, they love life, they love where they live. I say there’s something in the soil that grows these special people and visitors leave Louisiana with a friend for life. That doesn’t happen anywhere else. People ask why I work so hard as lieutenant governor—I love what I do, I love the people, I love helping people and I hate telling people ‘No,’ so I’m crisscrossing the state rebuilding the tourism industry after Covid. Tourism numbers are up; in 2021 we had over 41 million visitors. Soon we should be back to record breaking numbers. I’ve got the best job in the world working with the best people, and there’s so much more that we can do.” One day, that may include filling up the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion with plenty of pets.

For more information, please see billynungesser.com, @LouisianaLtGov, @BillyNungesser, lastateparks.com, LouisianaTravel.com, crt.state.la.us, louisianahorsetourism.com, and globalwildlife.com