5 things you should know about owning animals in Indianapolis
Tuesday, 15 May 2012 16:43 | 
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Most of you who own pets and live in Indianapolis will hopefully never have a problem, but you may not be as law abiding as you think. What you don't know, could cost you dearly.
1. Tags -- While there is no licensing required for pets in Indianapolis, ALL cats and dogs must wear rabies vaccination tags at ALL times. This means in the house and yard too....this includes your housecat that never goes outside. No exceptions. All cats and dogs are required to have permanent ID at ALL TIMES. A microchip or a durable tag count as acceptable ID, but be aware that most animal control officers do not have a microchip scanner in their van. If your animal is microchipped, but the chip is not properly registered to you as the owner, YOU ARE IN VIOLATION. Penalty (per animal): First offense fine for no permanent ID: $50. First offense for no rabies tag: $25.
2. Rabies -- Before you can get a rabies tag, you'll have to make sure your pet is vaccinated against rabies. The rabies vaccination must be repeated at intervals as specified by the veterinarian and the type of vaccine given. Rabies vaccines can be good for 1 or 3 years. Penalty (per animal): First offense $100
3. Tethering -- Before you tie your dog out in the yard, you'd better know the law. Dogs may NOT be tied outside between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 am. Period. A dog that is not spayed or neutered may not be tied outside UNLESS it is constantly being monitored by a competent adult. And get out your ruler as tether must be at least 12 feet long, and MUST have a swivel at both ends. No exceptions. Penalties: Be aware that tethering falls into the section of ordinance called "Care & Treatment". These are considered some of the most serious penalties. If you are found in violation of these ordinances, Animal Control can (and often will) immediately impound your pet. See below for more on Care & Treatment violation. First violation penalty (per animal) $25
4. Your yard -- Assuming you're clear on the tether issue, make sure you know how to let your dog out in your yard. If there is animal waste that has offensive odor or has accumulated in the opinion of the officer, you have committed a Care & Treatment violation. Even if you just let your dog out in your yard for a few minutes to exercise and go to the bathroom, the law is quite clear that the dog must have clean drinking water and shelter. Yes, you'd better have a dog house if your dog is unattended in your yard for any length of time. Penalties: Again, these are considered serious violations. See below for more discussion.
5. Who owns your pet -- Before you entrust your pet it into the care of anyone else, know that the ordinance in Indianapolis could cause you to lose your pet without notification or recourse. The ordinance defines the person who is caring for an animal as the "owner" for purpose of enforcing the ordinance. If for any reason, an animal -- YOUR animal -- is impounded while in anyone else's care, the person providing the care is assumed to be the owner. They will be charged with violations, but more importantly, they are responsible for taking steps to pay any bond necessary to protect the animal from being forfeit to Animal Control and possibly destroyed (Animal Control destroys 50% of the animals they take in). Even if your pet is wearing a tag with your name/information, or has a microchip registered to you, as the lawful owner under Indiana property law, you have no legal standing and no say in what happens to your pet under Indianapolis ordinance.
What is a Care & Treatment violation, and why is it different from others? A group of violations fall into the special category of Care & Treatment. They were intended to protect pets from being mistreated. Unfortunately, they often have just the opposite effect, causing animals to be impounded by the city and kept at Animal Control. If a C&T violation is determined to exist in the opinion of the officer, they can immediately impound all animals believed to be affected. Then a trial date will be set, but not before you must post a bond to pay Animal Control to care for the pets until that trial date. That amount will typically be around $170 per pet for 30 days. If you fail to pay the bond within 3 days of the court ordering the bond, the animal is automatically forfeit and the city may do with the animal as they wish (which may include destruction).
Automatic "special" penalties. If you are found in violation Care & Treatment, At-Large, Animals In Heat , Animal Attacks, Nuisance, Abandonment or Animal Fight ordinances, you will AUTOMATICALLY be subject to a special penalty that will prohibit you from owning more than 2 dogs in Indianapolis, and those dogs must be microchipped and spayed or neutered.
Where can you read the ordinances? Click here.
Don't think the ordinances are fair, or realistic or actually protect your pets? How can they be changed? Like all ordinances in Indianapolis, they are changed by action and vote of the City-County Council. Also like any proposed changes, it must pass through the hands of many councilors for review and discussion. It usually takes a fair amount of support by taxpayers who contact their CC Councilors to move for change. Not sure who your councilor is? Click here
Mixed results in hearing on confiscated dogs
Saturday, 28 April 2012 08:23 | | |
At the hearing Thursday in Marion Superior Court, Environmental Division, in the case of the City of Indianapolis v. Jo O'Keefe, many friends and supporters of reTails and Jo O'Keefe were in attendance.
Judge Certo heard the motion by reTails to be recognized as the owners of the foster dogs in the care of reTails foster parent and board member, Jo O'Keefe. The prosecution objected on grounds that the animal ordinance has a very specific definition of owner. Judge Certo heard evidence presented by reTails regarding the sources of the dog (including Animal Control), the identification of the dogs, and the foster agreement in effect between O'Keefe and reTails. The judge ruled in favor of reTails, commenting that it was his opinion that the definition of "owner" in the ordinance was not intended by lawmakers to necessarily supercede the common definition. Under Indiana law, dogs (and all animals) are considered property, so largely fall under the laws that govern property.
Judge Certo also heard the motion by reTails to have the dogs released back into the custody of reTails. He ruled in favor of the city, that the dogs would remain in the custody of the city (being housed at both the city pound and in foster homes).
In light of the judge's ruling on the custody of the dogs, reTails and O'Keefe did not object to the city's motion requesting the posting of a bond to reimburse the city for the impoundment and care for the dogs through the trial date of May 16th. The city asked for bond in the amount of $185 per dog, or $6475 total for the 35 dogs still alive.
The judge also heard a motion by reTails that any more dogs that die in the custody of the city be returned for veterinary postmortem examination. After some discussion the city agreed, but with the stipulation that postmortem examinations be performed at Purdue University.
Although paying the bond for the 35 dogs is something reTails can scarcely afford, we cannot afford not to do it for the sake of the dogs. A significant percentage of the dogs that reTails rescues are old, ill, doing poorly in the city pound, or have or are likely to fail "temperament testing", and as such not be adoptable at the pound. We fear that surrendering the dogs to the city will be a death sentence for many.
If anyone would like to contribute toward the bond, or to support reTails in the defense of this brutal impoundment that already cost one animal its life and another to lose an eye, please use the DONATE feature to the left, or you can mail a payment to:
reTails, Inc.
P.O. Box 482
Greenfield, IN 46140
We very much appreciate all the concern and support for the poor dogs!
Confiscation of 35 dogsMonday, 16 April 2012 18:58 | | |
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On the day that should've been a great celebration of reTails 1500th adoption since opening our mall adoption center in Oct 2010, an air of sadness hangs over the organization. Many have now seen or heard the local media buzz about 35 dogs being impounded by Indpls Animal Control from a local woman. The woman, Jo O'Keefe, is indeed a reTails dog foster parent. Most of the 700+ people who have adopted a dog from reTails in the past year and a half likely have a dog that benefited from time in her care. Animal Control officers stuffed 35 dogs into 3 vans. Although Jo attempted to have the officers put dogs together with consideration for which dogs got along and which didn't, this mostly fell on deaf ears, as the priority was to stuff the dogs into those 3 vans. Most of the dogs were small or very small and originally came from Animal Control, pulled to save them from being killed, as 50% of all animals are. Most were recovering from kennel cough or parvo, pneumonia, parasite infestation, etc. usually acquired at Animal Control. Some animals were ready for adoption and had been at our mall adoption center earlier in the day. Many of the dogs were rescued from Animal Control at the request of Animal Control staff, hoping to see them saved from the needle. Despite being mostly small dogs, there is no doubt that 35 dogs is a lot for a house. These dogs, however, were individually cared for. Some dogs are geriatric, some have serious and even terminal illness or temperament issues that Animal Control deemed unsuitable for adoption and would've been put down if they had remained in the shelter. Even if they had a short expected time left, all dogs were well loved, well fed and received medical care. One of the dogs died in Animal Control's care between Sunday and Monday, and another sustained serious eye injury during handling at Animal Control. The effort, time and cost that reTails and Jo puts into caring for dogs that have been rescued from Animal Control is considerable. Some local rescue groups have stopped rescuing animals from Animal Control because the burden of caring for the animals with shelter-borne sickness is too great. While there were some definite issues, in only 2 hours on Monday, the small amount of soiled carpet was removed and the floors were scrubbed and sanitized. Hardly the effort one would expect from such supposedly bad conditions. There are also reports of blood on dogs or injuries. We've not had a chance to review such information, or determine if these were findings on-site, or after the animals were crammed several per cage into 3 vans. Clearly the experience has been harmful --even fatal-- to some dogs, so a reasonable person might conclude that there may have been other harm as the result of this traumatic confiscation. Who protects the animals from the so-called protectors? Was it necessary to stuff 35 dogs into 3 vans and haul them off to the city pound? Were there other options? Could reTails have been contacted by Animal Control to see if some or all of the dogs could be moved into kennels or other foster homes? Were dogs helped (or "rescued" as some local media reported) by this exercise, or were they harmed? Unfortunately, we can't ask Lil Bit, the geriatric chihuahua mix who died in his kennel overnight. First Low-Cost Vaccine Clinic was a Success!Tuesday, 01 November 2011 15:11 | | |
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Although it only lasted 4 hours on Sunday, October 30th, our first low-cost vaccine clinic served 60 pets...many arriving in the first hour. The clinic offered low-cost vaccinations for cats and dogs, deworming, flea and heartworm treatment, heartworm and FIV/FeLVtesting, microchipping and nail trims. Pet owners were overwhelmingly pleased to have an convenient option for having their pets treated at very reasonable prices. The event was a success with the public and also helped reTails much-needed funding for our store expansion. Although no dates have been set, it is expected that reTails will be holding more such clinics in 2012. reTails announces 500th pet adoption since opening Washington Square Mall Store!Sunday, 24 April 2011 11:35 | | |
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Indianapolis, Indiana, April 23, 2011 – reTails, Inc., featuring 100% rescued pets, announces its 500th pet adoption since its store opening in October 2010
reTails to stay in Washington Square Mall!Sunday, 26 December 2010 22:20 | | |
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With overwhelming support by the public and the mall management, the reTails adoption center in the Washington Square Mall will be staying for 2011! We are also hopeful that we will be able to upgrade to a larger space in the mall, as our current store is now often literally packed with visitors. The store opened October 8th and has operated Friday-Sunday every weekend, closing only for Christmas Day. Despite only being open weekends (about 20 hours each week), our store saw 222 adoptions in the 12 weeks since opening, with 31 adoptions in the 2-day Christmas weekend alone! With a larger store to provide a more comfortable environment for the animals, volunteers and shoppers, the adoptions can almost certainly be increased even beyond this! The reTails store in the Washington Square Mall has embraced creative, common-sense approaches, and has placed many animals that are traditionally considered "unadoptable" -- geriatric dogs and cats, pets with medical conditions and quirky behaviors. Not all pets are suitable for the store environment, and we continue to do adoptions through Petfinder as well, but for the majority of pets, the store works fine! Despite our modest success, another 10,000+ cats and dogs are expected to die in Indianapolis shelters this year. reTails has far to go before we can achieve our goal of ending the killing of the 90%+ of those animals that are healthy, or can be readily treated. We won't be content with our success until we save these animals and fulfill our mission! But in this season of celebration, we are so thankful for the support from our amazing volunteers and donors, Tommy Holmes and all the Washington Square Mall team, and all the folks who have enriched their lives with a newly-adopted rescued pet in 2010. |
reTails, Inc., a local nonprofit created to bring adoptable animals and solutions for pet owners right into Indianapolis neighborhoods, announces its 500th adoption since opening its first permanent store in Washington Square Mall in October of 2010. Number 500 occurred today, Saturday April 23rd, when a Border Collie named Freckles was adopted by a local family.