Indianapolis, Ind., August 10, 2008– In a letter of grievance filed today with the Indianapolis Animal Care & Control (IACC) advisory board, a group of over 50 citizens cited multiple violations of Indianapolis law and examples of animal mistreatment within the IACC shelter.

Most disturbing was the account of a cat supposedly euthanized and left for dead, but found alive and in pain hours later, and evidence that there may be deliberate alteration of official kennel records to conceal failure to provide timely treatment for a seriously ill animal.

Following numerous firsthand observations of animal care & treatment violations at Indianapolis Animal Care & Control (IACC) which were dismissed by IACC Administrator Steve Talley, a group of citizens has prepared an official grievance to be filed with the IACC Advisory Board for hearing/resolution at the IACC board meeting scheduled for 6pm, August 13th at the IACC shelter, 2600 S. Harding Street.

Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) announced on Friday the hiring of their new executive director.  Seemingly in keeping with the criticism that has plagued the society for years, this decision is already facing skeptics.

In a response to an inquiry from 7/21/08, Indianapolis Animal Care & Control Administrator Steve Talley issued the agencies "official" conclusions about the 2-day suffering of a seriously debilitated, maggot-infested kitten discovered by volunteers on June 24. The circumstances surrounding this are outlined in a letter of complaint filed with the IACC advisory board on July 4th. You may read the entirety of the letter by clicking here.

In response to an official letter of complaint filed to the IACC advisory board on July 4th, IACC adminstrator issued the results of their internal investigation. You may read the full text of the letter here, but the specific allegation read as follows:

Indianapolis Animal Care & Control has released their kennel statistics for June. Normally, I take the time to compile them and summmarize on the ACCess page, but some quick math impressed me so much that I had to present the raw data now (click here to download the PDF file).

While we applaud progressive changes at Indianapolis Animal Care & Control proposed by Public Safety Director Newman, we have to ask why it requires the intervention of such a high-level person to get things accomplished at IACC? Are we mistaken in assuming that the management and improvement of the IACC division is the responsibility of the IACC administrator, and not the Director of Public Safety? So why would Director of Public Safety Newman want/need to be personally undertaking changes/improvements at IACC?

For anyone who was present at the IACC meeting, or those who may be watching it on TV, a reference was made to a letter of grievance filed with the IACC board. The letter was filed and signed by 5 volunteers who had volunteered approximately 35 total hours and had taken out as humane transfer or foster, about 30 cats, kittens, dogs and puppies on the two visits (most of which have already been adopted, after treating their kennel-induced illnesses). Some of the youngest have unfortunately succumbed, despite immediate and intensive veterinary care.

Are you interested in knowing how many cats and dogs have been killed with  your tax money in June? Through the end of May, Indianapolis Animal Care &  Control has used the money of Marion County taxpayers to kill 3,751 cats and dogs...over 50% of the animals they take into their custody.