In this issue:
- Line of credit extended
on public charitable trust
- Animals continue to be
imported from out of state into Marion County
- $54,000 spent on
"Love Them All" ad compaign
- Door-shutting policy to
strays impacts community
- City and Humane Society
sign MOU
- Nathan Winograd returns
to Indianapolis
- How you can move to ACT
The challenges for the animals,
animal service providers and tax payers of Marion County have become even
greater in the last several months with the announcement of several
concerning events.
On December 13, 2007, the Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) filed a
petition to request of the probate court (and was granted) a modification
to extend the line of credit on the Mary Powell Crume public charitable
trust meant for animals. "The Trustee requests that this Court allow
the borrowing limit against the Trust assets be increased to sixty
percent (65%) (increased from fifty percent (50%)) of the Trust corpus
which will be secured by ninety percent (90%) (same as before) of Trust
assets. Order
to Modify Line of Credit Arrangement
(As a historical note: several local animal service providers came
forward in 2004 in an effort to protect this Trust from the risk that it
continues to face as collateral for this line of credit, contrary
to the wishes of Mary Crume.)
Despite the overwhelming number of animals in need of homes within our
own community, animals continue to be imported into Marion County not
only from out of county, but out-of-state. "Starting
late last year, the Asheville Humane Society also started a monthly
transport of animals to the Indianapolis Humane Society."
In February HSI launched a $54,000
advertising campaign - its biggest in more than five years that has
been two years in the making to "get tongues wagging."
With resources so precious we did some math and asked ourselves,
"What could $54,000 do for animals if in the hands of other animal
welfare organizations?
Based on 2006 filings of IRS form 990's:
SNSI (Spay Neuter Services of IN) could spay/neuter 1,146 animals
ARPO (Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership) could house, provide care
and adopt 200 animals
IF (Indy Feral) could TNR (trap/neuter/release) 1,500 cats
FBI (Feral Bureau of IN) could TNR about 2,000 cats (based on preliminary
figures for 2007)
SSAS (Southside Animal Shelter) could house, provide care, spay/neuter
and adopt 310 animals
ACC (Animal Care and Control) could intake and process 343 animals
In early March it was announced that HSI would end their long established
policy of accepting stray animals as well as be placing significant
restrictions on accepting owner surrendered animals. This was announced
with a curious over-exposure and flurry of timely news articles:
March 1: "Shelter
says no to strays,"
March 2: "Indianapolis
Humane Society to stop taking in strays"
March 6: "Let's
find solutions to keep animals alive," by HSI Director Ms Boden
March 7: "City
set to unveil plan to cut euthanizations."
- "Humane Society officials said they have a $200,000 budget
shortfall, but Newman (Director of Public Safety) said he examined their
records and estimated the shortfall is closer to $1 million".
March 8: "No
more dumping Fido, shelters have a better idea"
March 9: ACC and HSI sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
March 10: "Humane
Society and Animal Care & Control forge pact."
- "The new collaboration also is reminiscent of how closely the
organizations worked together in the past, when the city had a two-year
contract, ending in 2002, with the Humane Society. At that time, the
Humane Society managed the animal care functions." (Editors note:
This information reflects a lack of institutional knowledge and can be
misleading. The Humane Society of Indianapolis contracted with the IACC
in 2000 to run the city's kennels but that contract was eventually
terminated in 2002. The Humane Society fell short in meeting a key goal
in the $272,000 contract which was to find homes for more animals. The
contract called for the society to come up with a plan to increase
adoptions by 30% during the first year. Instead adoptions fell 16%. The
numbers increased slightly the next year, but still fell short of the
contract goal). We have to wonder why this re-partnering with an agency
for a second time when the first partnership proved to be less than
successful.
What
could this MOU mean to tax payers?
What does this MOU mean for the animals? We can only guess, but it
doesn't sound good. Why? Because there is no indication of a plan for the
relief of the animals pointed to the city shelter. ALL surrendered and
stray dogs and cats (except the most desirable) are to be received by
ACC. This means that the ENTIRE population of at-risk animals
("undesirables" - needing the most compassion and care) will
overwhelm the limits of staff and facility to be even more marginalized
than before the policy change. HSI will selectively choose the most
desirable animals from ACC with the greatest market value and take them
to the north side location for adoption exposure. Not a bad thing except
that all other organizations to which ACC painstakingly arranges to
transfers animals, are "guaranteed placement" organizations -
meaning that the animals will not be killed.
The MOU means that ACC (and the animals they service) is in need of the
community's help more than ever before.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting
different results." --Albert Einstein
WHAT ACTION CAN YOU TAKE TO HELP STOP THE INSANITY OF THE SYSTEMATIC
KILLING OF ANIMALS FOR POPULATION CONTROL?
On May 3-4, Move to ACT is hosting a No Kill conference by national
sheltering leader Nathan
Winograd, author of REDEMPTION.
This is a two day event introducing the programs and services that move a
community away from the status quo performance of "adopting a few
and killing the rest" and toward a No Kill community. (A No Kill
community is one in which the only animals dying are those who are
irremediably suffering, are sick or injured with a poor prognosis for
rehabilitation, and vicious dogs with a poor prognosis.)
1. Contact
your City County Councilors. Inform them that there is a cost-
effective, proactive/alternative approach to animal management and our
city can benefit from this opportunity. Share with them that "
...experience has shown that programs oriented toward preserving life are
actually cost-effective and cheaper than ones oriented toward
killing" and that... "killing and disposal are revenue-negative
and undermine popular support for local government."
2. Contact the HSI CEO Martha Boden and encourage her to attend the No
Kill conference. Contact the Humane Society of Indianapolis' Board
of Directors and ask them to also attend the Winograd conference. Let
them know that the agency's participation in the community-wide No Kill
movement could assist in changing the public's perception of the HSI as a
self-serving shelter, to one serving the community by serving its animals
thereby making strides to live up to the "Humane" name brand.
And their participation could bring about real change for the betterment
of the animals they serve.
3. Send this newsletter to others on your distribution lists.
4. Please join us at the conference yourself! To learn more and sign up
for this event, visit www.movetoact.org
.
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a
nightmare." - Japanese Proverb
