Comments on Advance Indiana™: Move To Oust Animal Control Director Spearheaded By Councilors

Philly did not benefit under Mr. Rae, nor will Ind...

2009-08-21T19:50:04.381-05:00

Philly did not benefit under Mr. Rae, nor will Indianapolis. Once you begin justifying stacking cages you have lost the focus. A well run shelter does not stack cages, a well run shelters keeps a percentage of kennels open for heavy intake days. When kennels are kept at capacity to keep the numbers looking good, the influx catches up quickly. The first thing this movement does is fill every cranny with a creature and creat a critical situation. Read Lieds Nevada...or any of a dozen failures in this genre.

Art..or Sue..whichever ... I've seen those ...

2009-08-15T22:20:10.626-05:00

Art..or Sue..whichever ...
I've seen those 'photos' , they are nothing but dirty cages, stacked cages, a cooler instead of a freezer in the euthanasia room. Dirty cages happen especially on Sundays when some staff decide not to come in because they are all 'sick'.
Stacked cages happen when 30-50 animals come in at a time with no place to put them. It's always temporary and by the next day they are unstacked. The other option is to put the animals to death immediately upon arrival.
Quick paraded the news reporter and cameras through the euthanasia room and snapped a picture of the 'cooler'???. That was the same area volunteers last year were slapped by the union for 'illegally' entering.
That cooler has been there for 30 years, nothing new here?

All the 'charges' alleged to Rae are about things that have been going on in all the administrations before him. Somehow he is taking the blame for his predecessors because he dares to make union staff do their jobs and he wants the animal interest groups to work together. THAT they will not do.
What I think what is really bugging you is the fact that these animals are trying to be saved instead of killed.

Monty, The info, photos and documents are in the r...

2009-08-15T17:20:40.869-05:00

Monty, The info, photos and documents are in the right hands and when the results of the investigation is made public, I expect that you will apologize here for the misinformation that you have posted.

Yes, Artfuggins, please do go on, but remember tha...

2009-08-15T12:15:33.983-05:00

Yes, Artfuggins, please do go on, but remember that it is you who must substantiate your claims. I guess you could obtain copies of the reports that you believe exist and substantiate your claims and present them publicly, but why do that when you can simply add them to your list of other claims for which you offer no backup.

If the right information is already in the right hands, why waste your breath here? Just sit back, confident that the right information and the right people work their magic.

Monty, you inane name calling is inappropriate f...

2009-08-15T10:05:21.869-05:00

Monty, you inane name calling is inappropriate for an adult...the facts are there and the right people know them and they know there has been wholesale fraud perpetrated on the citizens of Indy. Things has gotten worse under Rae not better....I could list a page of examples...but on numerous occasions, Rae has ordered the animal control officers NOT to bring any stray dogs in as he wanted to keep the count down....get a copy of the OSHA report on the kennel after it had been under Rae's direction for several months. GEt a report about the EEOC meeting held re: Rae...and I could go and on...but I doubt that you are listening anyway......

from the virtual rectum ofartfuggings: ...one of t...

2009-08-15T08:20:46.187-05:00

from the virtual rectum ofartfuggings:

...one of the problems with Doug Rae. He manipulates or lies about the stats

I've talked employees and volunteers at IACC and nobody has made a comment (even a hint) inconsistent with the official numbers presented at the August 12 board meeting.

While I think everyone appreciates your enthusiasm for pushing your agenda, it's hard to match credibility with the division administrator who is putting himself in front of the whole city and presenting the numbers, while you post comments anonymously under an screen name on blogs.

If you know of so much damning factual information from these employees, bring them forth in some credible manner rather than wasting your time skulking around here. Use your energy and knowledge and the whistleblower laws which protect employees to create the kind of sensational story you're trying to create here.

Art, Check the time sequence you're citing......

2009-08-14T20:42:52.035-05:00

Art,

Check the time sequence you're citing...
Talley gone, Investigations, Applicants

It was:
Allegations, Investigations, Talley gone. Applicants

So, if they applied for the position, as you say, did either one of them get the position?

Monty....you have just pinpointed one of the probl...

2009-08-14T19:44:05.512-05:00

Monty....you have just pinpointed one of the problems with Doug Rae. He manipulates or lies about the stats.....talk to people who work at IACC and see how many dogs were returned from July 4th and also see how many adult dogs died from Parvo including some who had been adopted to families.

so sayeth artfuggins ...there is currently a Parvo...

2009-08-14T17:35:30.522-05:00

so sayeth artfuggins

...there is currently a Parvo epidemic sweeping kennel 4 and at least 11 dogs have died and numerous dogs have been adopted to unsuspecting persons who now have a dog with Parvo. Almost 50% of the 54 dog specials have been returned to IACC or other agencies even in Johnson and Hendricks Counties

If there was any truth to this, it would be worrisome indeed. Fortunately, it's completely unfounded rumor.

Two litters of puppies succumbed to Parvo in kennel 4 (the investigation kennel), but if that's an "outbreak" then every open admission shelter in the state has an "outbreak" weekly, or more often. When a shelter is mandated to accept all dogs/cats/rabbits/snakes/gerbils/horses, etc. from the public, regardless of condition, diseases will always be a problem. Many people surrender animals when they become ill or injured for financial reasons, or simply out of ignorance. Places like the Humane Society get to turn animals away whenever they wish. Sure makes their job much easier.

By "dog specials", I assume you mean dogs adopted during the July 4th event? There were far more than 54 dogs out of the 153 animals adopted on 7-4. As of the 8-12 board meeting, the accounting was 3 returned animals of all species.

I would encourage everyone to watch the IACC board meeting online or on Govt channel 16 for a more accurate accounting of recent IACC activity than can be derived from Art's virtual rectum.

There were no independent investigations. After T...

2009-08-14T10:59:37.436-05:00

There were no independent investigations. After Talley resigned and during the search for a replacement, two people did an investigation. Both were applicants for the job. This fails to meet the test of independent!!

To Unigov- "The people most opposed to anima...

2009-08-13T19:07:45.696-05:00

To Unigov-

"The people most opposed to animal euthanasia - the far left - are also those most in favor of abortion."

Please cite a resource for this statement. Oh, you can't.

Doug Rae came to Indy from Philly where the Animal...

2009-08-13T17:36:04.300-05:00

Doug Rae came to Indy from Philly where the Animal Care and Control was in chaos and disease ridden. He has managed in little over 6 months to do the same in Indy. there is currently a Parvo epidemic sweeping kennel 4 and at least 11 dogs have died and numerous dogs have been adopted to unsuspecting persons who now have a dog with Parvo. Almost 50% of the 54 dog specials have been returned to IACC or other agencies even in Johnson and Hendricks Counties.......Doug Rae needs to go.

I would add that from the comments, it seems like ...

2009-08-13T09:55:45.406-05:00

I would add that from the comments, it seems like Rae was suspended for policy differences, not because he did anything wrong. I'm pretty sure if you have policy differences, what you do is change directors. Not that I would recommend that. Like I said, there may be other things I don't know about, but from what I saw of Rae, I thought he was one of the most impressive appointments Ballard had made. He was energetic and innovative, a stark contrast to the people who normally serve in these positions.

Unigov, From what I have read, "Catch, Neute...

2009-08-13T09:43:28.961-05:00

Unigov,

From what I have read, "Catch, Neuter and Release" programs work rather well to reduce cat feral populations. I don't think euthanization should be the first choice for these animals. Stray cats simply don't pose the same threat or get into as much trouble as stray dogs, which are also pack animals. I say that as someone who loves both dogs and cats.

I don't like the Humane Society's emphasis on euthanasia either. I think Rae was right on point regarding his comments on that subject. As far as dogs and cats "just being animals", well I think a certain former NFL quarterback learned that animals, especially ones that are pets, are deserving of more protection.

It has always been difficult for me to articulate why Vick's crimes were so offensive and such a hars punishment was appropriate. Then I ran across a column by, I believe Jonas Goldberg, who explained beautifully why animals like dogs, which have come to trust humans, are deserving of legal protection when humans abuse that trust. I'm going to have to try to find that column.

First, I would say I've never been a fan of th...

2009-08-13T09:33:47.444-05:00

First, I would say I've never been a fan of the Humane Society. My experience with it and those of friends of mine, have not been positive. I told the story on my blog about someone in Pike who went to the Indianapolis Humane Society to get an adult cat to live in his barn which was filled with mice. When he told the Humane Society folks about what he wanted to do, they refused the adoption, telling him they did not allow "their" animals to be "working animals." He tried to explain that cats actually enjoy catching mice and actually considered it fun, not work, but it was no dice.

I have other Humane Society stories. I'm with Sean, I think there might have been a financial reason why the Humane Society was opposing Rae's policies.

Maybe they can sell enough cats and dogs to give I...

2009-08-13T08:48:24.319-05:00

Maybe they can sell enough cats and dogs to give Ir$ay and $imon what they want.

Which minor jurisdiction has more political machin...

2009-08-13T06:20:03.408-05:00

Which minor jurisdiction has more political machinations - Animal Control or the city of Southport ?

I have three cats, all strays, so I am very sympathetic to animal needs, but groups like IndyFeral strike me as going too far. IndyFeral catches stray cats, neuters them, and then *releases* them again. After they catch the cat they could just euthanize it. It is just an animal.

The people most opposed to animal euthanasia - the far left - are also those most in favor of abortion.

Is there a possibility that the Humane Society did...

2009-08-13T02:47:01.824-05:00

Is there a possibility that the Humane Society didn't like the competition from the $4 adoption offer (I may not fully grasp any relationship between HSI and Animal Control - just thinking out loud here) or are there some other possible conflicts that might occur by the government entity actually doing a good job vs. the interests of the listed organizations?

Something certainly smells fishy here.

I saw that presentation as well, Paul, and thought...

2009-08-12T20:56:03.762-05:00

I saw that presentation as well, Paul, and thought the same thing. It's hard for me to believe that a decision like this is being made after only about 6 months on the job. I also can't figure out why these councilors are spending time meddling in the small dollar agencies while ignorning the ones consuming the most money. It's a misplaced priority as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know everything going on, but I rememb...

2009-08-12T20:27:59.228-05:00

I don't know everything going on, but I remember watching Rae at a couple of committee hearings, in which he talked about his philosophy and approach to animal control. I thought he was so impressive, someone who brought a fresh look to the issue. He seemed genuinely concerned about the animals and enthusiastic about his job.

I'm sure there's more to the story though so I'll keep an open mind.