New hope for Indianapolis' animals

As most of you may have heard by now, Doug Rae has been hired as the new administrator of Indianapolis Animal Care & Control. As Mr. Rae said during the public portion of the interview process, Indianapolis is poised to undergo a revolution in animal welfare. With a new director at Humane Society of Indianapolis, and a new administrator at IACC, there is great reason to hope! Mr. Rae has an impressive resume' of reform in animal shelters, most recently bringing the 'save rate' in Philadelphia up to 72% in only 12 months. Bear in mind that in Philly, the budget was $600,000 less, and they took in 2/3 MORE animals every year (about 30,000). During his public interview, Mr. Rae said his goal will be to have the save rate for IACC up to 85%...and I have every reason to believe that he has the skills and experience to overcome the challenges and do it!

For those that saw this morning's Star, the quote from me was taken a bit out of context, perhaps to make a the story somehow controversial where there is no controversy. The part they didn't include is that part of the equation for success at IACC will be Mr. Rae getting support from the city, and support from Indianapolis-area animal welfare organizations. Hopefully Mr. Rae won't be shackled in his ability to manage the facility, the staff and the budget as he deems necessary to bring about the change. Since IACC operated seemingly without oversight by anyone in the city through several previous administrations, resulting in disastrous mismanagement, the natural reaction by the current administration might be to become overly controlling of the situation. But the entire purpose for hiring a very well qualified person like Mr. Rae would be to make it unnecessary to micromanage IACC. When Mr. Rae goes to work, I think all of us can breathe a deep sigh of relief!

Although 2008 has unfortunately been business as usual at IACC for the animals (over 10,000 animals have lost their lives there already this year), it has obviously been a year of incredible change too. We've seen it come from you all, from the so-called grass roots, and from the top down. It seemed like a fairly long and painful process for some of us, but the fruit that this process has borne is unprecedented in the history of Indianapolis. You all have been a critical part in bring an end to the age-old practice of installing political appointees to do the job of an animal sheltering professional. You have all voiced your concern, and the city administration responded. Many cities take years to achieve this...and some never do. There is still a lot of work ahead to make Indianapolis the animal-friendly city that it can be, but 2009 holds the promise of being the beginning of a new era for animal care in Indianapolis! I can't think of a better holiday present for us all!