I'M SO ASHAMED !!!!

[lizbud]

The local Indy paper concluded a 6 month
investigation into the practices of our local
Indy Humane Society and the Indianapolis
Animal Care and Control, in regards to
euthanazia rates compared to other cities
our size (860,000).Our killing rate has gone
up 12.5 % since 1994. We euthanized over
22,000 dogs & cats last year alone. This is
unbelievable since the Indy Humane Society
controls a trust worth well over 14,000,000
dollars, but will not support low cost
spay/neuter programs in the city.The Humane
Society her is very high profile, and is
widely supported by the regular folks and the
very wealthy..I am so shocked and saddened
by this first of a three part series.I adopted my dog Buddy from the Humane Society,
and have taken many 'found' animals there
hopeing they would have a chance of adoption.
Now I wonder if I did the right thing by
taking them there...

The article is at

http://www.indystar.com

[lizbud]

Thanks Spencer!
My next project was a grey/white SH tabby,
who I first met last spring.My neighbors down
the street got this little girl as 'pet'
for their two children.The first month she
was such a treasure to them.But ,evidently
the kids grew tired,the kitten grew and was
eventually made a 'outside' pet.The parents
never seemed to get involved with the cat's
welfare.She started to beg for food from the neighbors.Now she has kittens and she still
lives outside.The babys are at least 3-4 wks.
and too young to leave their mom yet.I wish
that I had got to her sooner,after I realized
that her people didn't care anymore...
There are two local shelters that I could
check out.This must be 'kitten season'as I
saw a lot of them at PetsMart this morning.
I just feel so bad that I trusted the
Humane Society & shed tears for each one
that I turned over to their care...

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Oh Liz, you were doing what you thought was best for the poor dogs, thinking "Humane Society" means being humane to animals. That is so sad when they have the money and they could afford a low cost neutering program.
I guess that is right up there with San Diego building a new multi-million dollar Animal Shelter only to have someone burn it down just when it was finished and ready to move the animals in. There are a lot of uncaring people out there, if they treat their pets that way, how do they treat their kids?
Jackie

[aly]

Liz, that is awful. I am so sorry to hear the news. As Jackie said, you were just doing what you thought was right. It isn't your fault at all. I'm going to go look around at those message boards and state my opinion if needed.

I hope no one judges every humane society by this one. A lot of them really are great places.

[aly]

Awww I remember Bucky... sooooo sweet.

Eating a lot and occasionally missing the litter box? He COMPLAINED about that?? Tell him if he wants no messes to get a stuffed animal!!! :mad: :mad:

I hope Bucky is doing good.

[ktreva52]

Well, I have my own stories to tell about the Indianapolis Humane Society. One of them involved why they didn't utilize the facilities at PetsMart like several of the other rescue groups did. Apparently, the then director of the IHS had some prejudice against the PetsMart policy of not selling animals like cats and dogs. Last I heard, they have pretty much taken over the Adopt a Pet areas at PetsMart in Indy.

There is a low cost spay/neuter clinic in Indianapolis on Massachusetts Avenue. I forget the name at the moment, but it was one that Bob Barker helped to support. Also, there are a couple of no kill shelters, like Southside Animal Rescue (I believe that's their name) and they worked with PetsMart on the southside (Greenwood) and on East Washington Street. I haven't been back to Indy since last Christmas, so don't know what else is there most recently, but Lizbud, you can find other places to take animals. Many of the vets were doing some work along those lines and ARPO -- something about Responsible Pet Owners -- was going into the Castleton PetsMart before I moved south. If Debbie is still a cashier (evenings and weekends) at the Castleton store, she could tell you more about some of these things.

It truly is a shame that an organization like the Indianapolis Humane Society with their larger, more modern facilities, can't do more along the "no kill" lines, but when you consider the population of Indianapolis and the fact that they have had to take over the operations of Animal Control (which was a TOTAL mess), they're really trying to do the right thing as best they can. As I understand it, Animal Control (before IHS) was worse than horrible about care of the animals they picked up. I remember that we used to donate damaged bags of food to them and one of our managers would try to go there and rescue cats from them for the adoption center. It got to be a real hassle and often the cats were ill. Now, the IHS is trying to clean up that facility and make it work. Probably the best thing we could do is perhaps start a letter writing campaign and see if we can't get them to change some of their policies?????

[jackiesdaisy1935]

Thanks Spencer, that is good news to hear about the cats. We learned our lesson, before we had the dogs we found a little kitten behind the air conditioner on Christmas Eve and kept it. We called her baby and it was yellow, black and white so cute. We used to let it outside and she would always be there to come in, except one day she disappeared, we believe someone took her. If we ever could get another we would get a litter box and keep it inside. I guess a lesson learned.
Jackie

[purrley]

Shame on the Indianapolis Humane Society. I'm not sure the Humane Society here in Utah is any better unfortunately, but we do have our wonderful no-kill Best Friends Animal Sanctuary located here in Kanab, Utah. God Bless Best Friends and other organizations like them. That's where my big donation goes every year!!!

[lizbud]

Thanks everyone for your understanding!!!

Part 2 of the Series is in today's paper,
I picked up a copy on the way to work and
started to read the article,but had to stop.
There was a picture of a frightened little
Spaniel type dog who was about to be put
down, and it broke my heart.Sorry, I can't
break down like this at work..I'll have to
finish it when I get home.

http://www.indystar.com

The letter writing & e-mail is a great idea,
I'm going to also commend The Indianapolis Star for this kind of "Truth Telling" I honestly believe most people here really don't know any of these facts...

[ October 15, 2001: Message edited by: lizbud ]

[kobieeli]

Lizbud wrote,


I'm going to also commend The Indianapolis Star for this kind of "Truth Telling" I honestly believe most people here really don't know any of these facts...


That's about the only good thing that might come out of such a horrible situation. That photo in the Part 2 link you gave absolutely broke me--hopefully it'll do the same to the readers of Indy. We can only pray that donations will start coming in, adopters will start showing up more frequently, and pet owners will start thinking twice about relenquishing their animals at the slightest inconvenience they might cause. :(

[lizbud]

Hi Everyone,
Todat is the 3rd and last installment of
the investigation into Animal Care/Adoption/
Euthanizia & Spay-Neuter issues in Indy.
The Indianapolis Humane Society has declined
to be interviewed by newspeople till after this 3rd installment appeared in the local
paper.(They have however updated their
website to reflect their views on animal care
issues)

http://www.indystar.com

Front page shows pics & stories of some cats
and dogs who have managed to survive shelter
life and now have loving forever homes...
There's a Black & white kitty named
Maximus Catimus (Max). And one Great Pyrenees
named Shasha & a St. Bernard named Bernie.
(Great pics of the dogs)who were both adopted
by a shelter worker...
Also a very good story about the Southside
Animal Shelter(Indy) and it's founder and
tireless advocate for finding homes for all
the 'unadoptable /unremarkable)' dogs & cats.
The lady's name is Rosie Ellis.I have met this lady and she is a remarkable human being. She's also at the PetsMart store where
I shop every weekend with dogs & kitties for adoption.She is a tireless worker for animals.

[mugsy]

OOOOOHHHHHH they made me mad!!! I had to log on and post. I wasn't very nice either, but then, most of the time when I get mad about something I'm not very nice. What is with the 2 morons on the message board who said either just shoot them or they liked them better bbqed. AAARRGGHH!!! I also had to post about the superintendents in Fort Wayne. I understand that shelters are forced to put animals down because stupid people do stupid things like dump their animals or take them to the shelter because they don't have time for them, however, shelters also have the responsibility to educate the public, which doesn't sound like is happening with the Indy shelter. I know our shelter makes me mad too because they put pits and pit mixes down just because of their breed. Their rationale is that the liability is too high because we have a bigger dog fighting problem than anywhere in the tristate area. Wow, did that message board fire me up! Mike's going to come home and find me in this mood and wonder who did what to me! lol

[lizbud]

Mugsy,
I read your post on the BB.Very good!!
Our POTD board is the only one I've ever
become involved in, but the papers 'Talk Back' board is evidently not moderated.
Don't pay any attention to those 'bored
little cyber kids' who only want attention!!
I wanted to say that Ft.Wayne was mentioned
as a model city in Part 2 for it's education
programs !!!
As of tonight, IHS is starting to respond
to the print media in dribs & drabs.
I think the effect of the articles certainly embarressed IHS,and has gotten the
public's attention.Hopefully things will
change for the better...We'll see...

[lizbud]

Ktreva,
Didn't know you once lived in Indianapolis.
As you said the city's dog pound; now know
as Indianapolis Animal Care and Control,was
always known as the 'pits' for animals..
Dogs went in there and never came out!!!
IHS, being more high profile & supported
by every Society matron and many Business
leaders, lead me to believe that it would
be the better place to bring found animals.
Most Shelters here are always overcrowded.
Ihs really has to do more to support Spay/
Neuter.They should never adopt out unneutered
mature animals..

[mugsy]

Thanks liz! I was MAD!!!! But I'll bet you figured that out by my post. What kind of contract do you have to sign to adopt from the IHS? Like I said on the Indystar site, 2 of ours came from our shelter. You basically have to sign away your first born (in my case that would be difficult since I have no 2 legged kids, nor do I plan on having one). You have to agree to have the animal spayed or neutered and the vet has to send back a paper saying that they spayed or neutered the animal. They give you a certificate for $45 toward the process. They also give you a puppy pack with lots of goodies, they microchip the animal, and give you a $5 gift certificate to PetsMart. It costs $85 to adopt. When we adopted, it only cost $50 but they needed to up it because they were losing money on the process. We still have to put a lot of animals down which is so sad, but it's really not the shelter's fault, it's the stupid people who don't watch their animals. Our shelter in the 1980s, when our population was about 100,000 put down 16,000 animals and last year, when our population was 200,000 they put down 10,000. Still way to high but at least the trend is downward.

[mugsy]

Gee Spencer, I responded to YOUR post! I LOVED your post. You let them have it but good. I liked the comment about living in Afghanistan in the winter. I think the moron's point was that we should be worrying about things more "important" than dogs. I figured that his signiture of "My dog Tupac told me to do it" said everything I needed to know.

[lizbud]

Hi Everyone,
Just a brief follow-up to this post:
GOOD NEWS FOLKS..GOOD NEWS ...
All the letters,e-mails,and general public
outcry after this series broke has caused
the Mayor to take a stand on animal issues
in Indy.He has created a task force to find
solutions to the animal care problems.
Not unusual you might say, BUT the person
chosen to head the task force is an amazing
woman who was a very vocal critic of the
ways things were done at the Indy Shelter.
This person is an attorney & ex-city Council
member who has excellent organizational skills." She gets things done & gets what she
goes after" The animals of Indianapolis could
not have a better friend or advocate!!!
The task force has 90 days to come up with
recommendations for change and report back
to the Mayor..
The article about this is at;

http://indystar.com

Mayor's Task Force (Oct 26, 2001) (http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/task26.html)

[ October 26, 2001: Message edited by: SpencerTheLion ]

[mugsy]

Oh yeah!! What a great victory. It's about time that animals get their fair shake. I'm so glad for the animals of Indy. I hope they make a complete turnaround! I just hope that they don't implement everything from the Fort Wayne shelter. Good luck with it, keep us up to date. I do have the Indy Star website on my favorites.

[ktreva52]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I would advise cautious optimism here. I've been involved with a couple of articles in the Indianpolis Star and they weren't totally factual when they came out (1976 & 1977). It is good that they are going to look into the situation, but recommendations and actions may be miles apart. I went to the board meetings when they first proposed new laws about Animal Control and it was really strange to see what goes on there. There were major discussions on the exact wording of things in the laws and several dog people were there to help "advise" on how things are and aren't. I know the woman from Feline Friends (got my cat Monocle from them) and she's pretty sharp. I have also adopted from IHS and their practice is to give certificates to adoption families for spay/neuter of animals. Usually covers total cost of the operation, but not necessarily shots. I still have two animals we adopted from there, Shiloh, JRT mix, and D'Artagnon, cat. They microchipped D'Ar, but we got Shiloh before the technology was available. On an overall basis, IHS is a very clean facility and fairly modern. They frequently have obedience classes there and an annual contest of photos.

What I believe needs to be done is for the Indianapolis Star to give more room to issues like training animals from early on, socialization of pets, enforcement of leash laws, why it isn't a good idea to breed your pet for "educational" purposes, etc. They could easily be a strong forum for educating the public about animal awareness, if they so chose.

Yes, LizBud, I am a native of Indianapolis. I moved to Tennessee to be with one of my daughters who then moved back to Indy. I'm staying in TN because it doesn't get as cold here for as long and when you have arthritis, that makes a difference to your quality of life.

Most of the people who say stupid stuff on those forums are the same bored people who have never learned to take proper care of an animal. They consider everything, including people and animals, as "throw away" and have little idea of life values. Most are the offspring of people that have a lot and have more money than sense (in my opinion) and, therefore, can "replace" whatever is not working for them. Lord, I could go on for pages.

Anyway, it is good to support the no-kill groups and to make places like PetsMart aware of how you want to see the Adopt a Pet centers run. Let's all pray that something really positive comes of this task force and that Indianapolis becomes a model of animal education and care.