City Shelter Lacks Compassion
Appearing in the Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Shelbyville News
Letter to the Editor:
“Reader disturbed by conduct of city shelter
I would like to bring to your attention my experience of June 14 with the city-county entity, the Shelbyville-Shelby County Animal Shelter. On this morning I was greeted with another abandoned animal at Loper Commons. In the goodness of my heart, I tried to call the animal shelter but the Comcast phone lines were out of service. I drove the animal over to the shelter, although my medical condition precludes my driving at all, to try to save a starving, wet 4- to 5-week-old kitten.
I heard voices in the office and knocked but received no response. I can read as well as anyone that they don’t open until 11 a.m. I finally got some attention through the window, but they yelled they were not open and I informed them I needed help. I’ve been standing in the rain with the wet kitten and finally the door is thrown open and I am told in no uncertain terms they do not answer the phone until 9 a.m. or open until 11 a.m.
I informed the office personnel that my phone lines were out and I couldn’t reach them. I was read the riot act that they use this time to catch up, and my doctor wouldn’t be expected to open his office early for any reason. (Ever hear of the emergency room). The kitten was grabbed out of my hand and a comment made they would take it rather than have me throw it out on the street. I informed them I would never do such a thing and had the door slammed in my face.
Never have I been treated so rudely. I would have gladly called after 9 a.m. if my phone had been working. I understand they are busy in the morning but how about a little compassion and understanding for the animal. At one time there was an after-hours emergency drop-off kennel but I believe it was discontinued a long time ago. I would have gladly placed the animal in the carrier for cats that used to be available and left a donation for its care, but I doubt I will be involved in any more animal rescue after this experience.
I’ve lived for the last several years in Mexico and found more compassion for animals there than I did in Shelbyville this morning.
Roger Rylatt
Shelbyville”
Share your experience, good or bad, with the local shelter.
I run a rescue in Indianapolis. We pull our breed of dog from local shelters and find them homes. We are all foster volunteers with no facility. We have a good reputation and work with Indianapolis Animal Care and Control along with many central Indiana smaller shelters.
Having said that we were contacted a couple of years ago by the Shelbyville Shelter to take a senior dog. We did, no problems. I found the staff person handling working with rescues to be very nice and seemed concerned for the animals. We pulled another dog a couple of weeks later and had no problems again.
A few months later I noticed a particular chained dog while visiting a relative in Shelbyville. It was December, a short haired dog and it was very cold, shivering and had nothing by a crappy little dog house and mud surrounding it as far as the chain would go. I reported it to Shelbyville Animal Control and they visited I am told but found nothing wrong. I did not accept this as it was an obvious disgusting situation, not uncommon, for that dog. I contacted the shelter director, the mayor and all city council members via email with some documented information about the dangers of chaining dogs and why it is inhumane treatment. No response at all. I did this in my name not the name of the rescue.
Since then the shelter does not return our rescue’s emails and because of that would appear to not want to work with us any longer even though we work to help animals by pulling them and finding them homes.
I get the feeling if you speak up and complain or push an issue you are blacklisted as a rescue despite the fact that we may be able to prevent killing our particular breed.
Too bad there are petty people who don’t seem to care in charge of this, or any shelter.
I have adopted several animals from the Shelby County-Shelbville Animal shelter and I have never had a problem. I have received food from the shelter to feed stray cats and when my roommate lost her job, they gave us a bag of dog food. They were great to let me foster a dog so I could see how she’d fit into my family. There are some great people there who really do care about the welfare of the animals!
I think they are in a bind because they are controlled by the city/county, so they have to abide by city laws/ordinances. In Shelbyville, it is legal to chain your animal. Most of us know that chaining an animal is horrible, but they have to go by the law, so they cant take an animal away just because it is chained. It is a tough situation. I just wanted to share my experience.
I just also wanted to add that I purposely try to adopt from this shelter, because I know that they are not a “No-Kill” shelter. There are so many loving animals there that need a good home!