Indianapolis Animal Care and Control has been the classic, broken municipal animal care and control system for years, ignored by politicians and using tax-payer money to be killing 60% of the animals who come through it's doors to be hauled off in dump trucks like garbage. Turning a blind eye to unacceptable conditions has been common place until recently when members of the public witnessed and filed a complaint to the IACC Advisory board on August 19, 2008 regarding care and treatment violations within the facility.

An investigation by 2 independent investigators substantiated these citizen complaints of care and treatment violations and documented in their report.

These findings led to the September 11th resignation announcement of administrator Steve Talley who denied wrongdoing. Safety Director Scott Newman who oversees IACC, appointed the IACC advisory board to act as the search committee to find a replacement for Talley. Said Newman, “We have a strong desire to hire someone recognized for professionalism in the field.”

After the Talley resignation there was announcement and agency claims of improved conditions, however reports of a dog dying from being darted and receiving no veterinary attention per protocol and a parvo positive dog being housed in the general kennel population followed. To date the public has seen no action to address these concerns, however, new leadership is on the horizon:

Doug Rae to lead city's troubled division.

For the first time in its history, Indianapolis Animal Care and Control has hired an experienced professional for its administrative position. Doug Rae comes to Indianapolis with five years of animal sheltering experience and several years of corporate management. Mr. Rae, most recently chief operating officer at a Philadelphia shelter, received a unanimous vote of recommendation from the Animal Care and Control Advisory Board on December 10th. Safety Director Scott Newman acknowledged the board's recommendation and announced to the city Rae's appointment on Monday December 15th, 2008.

The city's historically broken system welcomes this new direction for the agency. Rae's goal of reducing the animal death toll to 20% from its current 60% will be made easier with the anticipated cooperation of the multiple organizations that have been frustrated with the agency's prior practice of working with rescues and volunteers on a prejudicial basis.

Reference: Letter of Grievance, Investigative Report

As you are probably now aware the Humane Society of Indianapolis has a new executive director, John Aleshire. We are very hopeful that the path Mr. Aleshire is taking HSI will lead to a greater animal shelter than the north west side and our city as a whole has ever experienced. In his few months at the shelter he has made some policy changes that we would like to share with the community.

Just last spring under the direction of the previous leadership the shelter closed it’s doors to stray animals being accepted and owner surrenders being turned away without having scheduled an appointment. These are not the kind of policies that help the animals nor serve the community. Mr. Aleshire has changed those policies as noted below along with a few others. We are hopeful that the shelter will continue to raise the bar on it’s own performance and service to the community.

1. They have cancelled all out of county and out of state incoming transfer agreements. All HSI animal intake is now based on owner surrender, IACC transfers, and transfers from Marion County based 501c3 animal welfare agencies.
2. They have instituted a firm adoption fee cap of $150.00 per animal. Many animals will cost less but none will cost more.
3. They have cancelled their $20.00 surrender fee. If someone wants to surrender their pet to HSI there is no longer a charge to do so.
4. They now have mandatory pre-sedation on all euthanasia’s. Prior to this change pre-sedation was optional at the discretion of the tech.
5. They have established mutual aid and collaboration agreements with various Marion County based animal welfare groups. They hope to establish similar agreements with more groups as time permits.
6. They also have food available to pet owners who are in need of assistance in feeding their own pets.

INDIANAPOLIS (November 25, 2008) - John Aleshire, executive director of the Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI), announced this morning the appointment of Christine Jeschke as director of operations.

Reference: History

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