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Petition Tag - indianapolis
1. Stomp Out the 70% Euthanasia Rate at the Hendricks County Animal Control Shelter (Danville, Indiana) 
Stomp Out the 70% Euthanasia Rate at the Hendricks County Animal Control Shelter!! (Danville, IN)
Hello,
I grew up in Hendricks County, Indiana and attended Plainfield High School. A few of my classmates, along with other animal lovers, want to thank you in advance for reading what our Petition is all about! If you are reading this, you are more than likely an animal lover.
We've all heard that one person can make a difference. Well, imagine if all of us could work together, by signing this petition, to make a huge difference at this shelter to save thousands of animal’s lives!
You may have seen some recent controversy in the news about the Hendricks County Animal Control Shelter. I’ve been working with a couple organizations (Allies for All Animals & The Hendricks County Humane Society) for the last 6 months trying to make a real difference for the animals in Hendricks County.
The 2011 Shelter Report received from the Hendricks County Commissioners show an unusually high euthanasia rate of 70%!! That is completely unacceptable!
Chief Animal Control Officer Mary Ann Lewis has run the county shelter for the past 21 years. She admitted on Channel 6 News to an 82% euthanasia rate (which includes owner requested euthanasia, as well)! In my opinion that is 21 years too long for the same Animal Control Chief to euthanize thousands of animals in Hendricks County!! It is time for this to stop! It is time for a change!
This shelter has one of the highest euthanasia rates in the state of Indiana! This is embarrassing for the taxpaying citizens of Hendricks County!
The shelter is currently only open 10-4pm M-F, and they are only open on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays for very short hours. These hours are not convenient to the working citizens of Hendricks County! It does not give the adoptable animals a chance to find their forever home!
At the present time, the dogs are not allowed to be walked or even go outside! They are not allowed to be taken out of the shelter to adoption events. The cats are not allowed to touch the floor in the facility. The facility currently does not have a quarantine area for the cats. The intake room is being used for the dogs. And worst of all, the kennels are hosed down and cleaned WITH the animals in them! Those are all completely unacceptable practices in this new age of animal welfare!
The Shelter recently started a Volunteer Program, but the volunteer handbook that states you must do volunteer activities such as yard maintenance or sitting at tables with pictures of the adoptable animals for a massive150 hours before you could ever touch a animal at the shelter!! Most shelters allow volunteers to work with the animals almost immediately after a few hours of training. Certainly not 150 hours! Clearly this shelter does not want outsiders in their building.
Our tax dollars pay for the employee’s salaries, the building, and the utilities in this county-run facility. So what we want our county shelter to be should matter to the County Commissioners who are responsible for running the shelter.
We have presented a proposal for a Shelter Director to take over the daily duties of the shelter. This would include finding homes for the adoptable animals, calling rescue groups, setting up foster homes, and forming a much-needed, more reasonable volunteer program.
The shelter currently has an “Animal Control Chief" that runs the facility. And she runs the shelter with an “animal control” mentality only. That is to protect the citizens from “vicious, attack” animals. When in fact, very few of these animals are vicious. They have only been displaced from their homes through no fault of their own. Yet they are treated like inmates!
We believe the Chief Animal Control Officer can work out of the Sheriffs office, or out of a van. This is the way Hamilton County handles it. Their Animal Control Officers do not have anything to do with the running of the shelter, nor are they housed at the facility. They simply pick up strays and drop them at the shelter.
A new Shelter Director would check for microchips on strays, look for owners of lost pets, contact rescue groups, organize foster families, use the Canine Express (a train which takes animals to shelters who presently don't have a lot of adoptable animals), advertise the adoptable animals to increase awareness (Hendricks County Flyer, PetFinder.com and all available online adoption sites), be in charge of a volunteer program, hold fundraising events to raise money for vaccinations and medical supplies, and take animals out to adoption events. The Shelter Director would be responsible for making sure the animals are socialized, evaluated, groomed, vetted, with the help from volunteers.
Problems with the Shelter have been a news item on rtv6, Indiana News. See:
I will try to post my letter here from the director Mary Ann Lewis, and the assistant to commissioners, Mike Graham "firing" me from my 10 plus hours a week, volunteer position posting all the animals on line, and caring too much about the animals welfare I received recently. I asked too many questions for them... hmm Jenny
2. Provide A Bike Rack Near Community Center Earth House
The Earth House Collective is a group of peace activists, conservationists, artists, musicians, Methodists, teachers and many more dedicated to peace, wellness, community and culture on the corner of New York and East streets in downtown Indianapolis.
With the increase of bicycle transportation in the city, Earth House is in need of a bicycle rack.
3. Bring NOFX to Indianapolis for first time since 1995
NOFX has not played a REAL show in Indianapolis since the Punk In Drublic tour in 1994/1995 when they played at the Emerson Theater.
It is now time for this to change.
This year, some 10,000 dogs and cats will be killed in Indianapolis shelters. The vast majority of these homeless pets can and should be placed into loving homes or should never enter shelters in the first place. But there is hope.
No Kill sheltering models, based on innovative, non-lethal programs and services, have already saved the lives of tens of thousands of animals in other communities. But instead of embracing No Kill, our shelters cling to their failed model of the past, a model that results in the unnecessary tax-funded killing of healthy dogs and cats.
It is time for change.
5. Help Illustration become a Major at Herron School of Art and Design!
The idea for an illustration major has been juggled around the Herron faculty for a few years now. In the past, it has nearly gone through to become a viable major among the other fine arts and visual communications majors. But each time it has inexplicably fallen short.
I think the main issue of it not becoming a major is that there is such a demand for it, the school is afraid an Illustration major will take away students from the other Fine Arts Majors. But in a school that offers Visual Communications (design in advertisements), and Printmaking (much of which look like illustrations) as majors, I think this is a pretty weak excuse. And, why would it not be considered art?!
I am outraged and believe it’s time to for the students, and artist everywhere, to make a stand!
For more information about Herron, please visit there website: www.herron.iupui.edu
6. Student Traffic Safety in Indianapolis
On Novermber 2nd, 2006 a student was struck by a WB vehicle at 799 W. Michigan St. This accident occurred at the crosswalk, clearly marked, in front of the Engineering and Technonlogy building on the IUPUI campus.
7. Hanson Lecture Series at Butler University
February 2005
The intention of this petition is to request the addition of the "Hanson College Lecture Tour" to Indianapolis, Indiana's Butler University roster of student events.
We are collecting signatures to provide to the Student Government Association at Butler University in order to reinforce the interest created by the Hanson College Lecture Tour. This tour is of educational value and would benefit the university's students, as well as, the surrounding demographic.
8. Bring Gorillaz to Indianapolis
MISSION: To bring a kick-arse band to Indianapolis, creating a happy medium between those who couldn't attend the New York and Chicago shows.