The Monday, September 26, Indianapolis Star has an excellent article on the rush to adopt animals displaced by hurricane Katrina, as thousands of other animals are killed every year in Indianapolis for lack of homes. I will paste it below. It presents a great opportunity for letters in favor of adoption. Please write. The Indianapolis Star takes letters at: http://www2.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html
Hoosiers open homes to storm pets
Officials praise adoptions, but lament the fate of local animals
By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com
September 26, 2005
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/NEWS01/509260406/1006
A wave of dogs and cats evacuated from storm-stricken Gulf Coast cities have had little trouble finding new homes in Central Indiana.
But the demand to adopt survivors comes at a price in a region that euthanizes thousands of unwanted pets each year.
"Everybody has kind of put the Indiana animals on the back burner," said Rosie Ellis, director of Southside Animal Shelter, 1614 W. Edgewood. "Everybody is wanting to rescue animals from Katrina."
Amid the calls coming last week to her shelter from folks wanting to adopt animals from the Gulf Coast were those from people trying to turn over unwanted litters of kittens or stray animals.
"It's either divorce, moving or 'Don't have enough time'" said Lisa Roberts, who works at a shelter in Johnson County, where she is seeing a similar pattern.
"We put down cats and dogs here every day that people are not coming to adopt," Roberts said.
Surge, an 8-month-old Siamese mix kitten, now lives in a veterinarian's office on Georgetown Road after surviving floodwaters and injuries in Louisiana. It's not the animal's pedigree but its past that makes Surge a hot property, according to Michele Fox, office manager for The Cat Doctor at 56th Street and Georgetown Road.
"Some people just want to adopt the cat just because it's a 'hurricane cat.' " Her office, however, will wait to find the right match for Surge, she said. "We want to make sure it's going to a great home."
Shelter operators say it's too early to determine the scope of the Katrina effect -- or the results likely when the sure-to-follow Hurricane Rita orphans begin arriving. Rescue groups from Indiana are likely to repeat the evacuation efforts that brought many animals north after Katrina swamped parts of the South.
Some impact is almost guaranteed.
Katrina displaced about 50,000 animals just in New Orleans, said Rachel Querry, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States. That number is likely to grow because of Rita.
Animal care workers in Louisiana and Mississippi eagerly have handed over abandoned or stray animals to visiting do-gooders as a good alternative to the prospect of mass euthanasia in the stricken region.
Yet pet overpopulation has been an ongoing problem in Indianapolis.
At the city pound, about 14,444 animals had to be put asleep in 2004 -- 70 percent of those were strays to begin with, said Media Wilson, spokeswoman for Indianapolis Animal Care & Control.
Lisa Tudor, IndyFeral president, estimates that there are 175,000 feral, free-roaming cats in the city.
Many of the same animal-loving facilities that have collected donations to send South -- to buy dog food -- hope people get the message that animals closer to home still need help.
Adopting an animal is a "15-year commitment" and not a responsibility that can be ended in six months when the novelty has worn off, said David DeBruzzi, director of community outreach for the Indianapolis Humane Society. His agency serves a seven-county area and is the
largest outfit of its type in the state.
To make sure an adoption is successful, the society includes fees that cover not only medical shots but also advice on how to successfully acclimate a pet to new surroundings.
When folks ask for an animal rescued from a hurricane from among the 400 dogs and cats held by the Humane Society, DeBruzzi counters with one question: "What exactly is the difference?"
But the Humane Society has a cat from Slidell, La., a black and white female dubbed Gale. She's up for adoption, and her background is noted on the card attached to her cage.
"We did struggle with it," he said.
Several people at the Humane Society's Michigan Road adoption lobby last week said they wouldn't mind being a foster or full-time parent of a displaced pet.
Patrick Baldwin, 21, an Indianapolis package delivery driver, picked out a 21-month-old brown boxer mix. He chose the unnamed dog because of her friendly disposition, not her background.
"Any dog that can be helped in any way, I'm glad to help."
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Date: Mon Sep 26 17:21:17 2005
