Humane society defends practices, considering role in communities
Chicago Tribune
September 28, 2015 - 7:11 PM
The board of directors for the embattled Humane Society of Hobart told both supporters and critics attending an open meeting Monday that the board will be deciding soon what role it will be playing in the community in the future.
The center currently acts as animal control for the cities of Hobart, Lake Station and Portage, but various members stated in the past and at the meeting that they believe Porter County, not the shelter, should be taking in animals from Portage.
"This has been going on since the 1990s," longtime board member Carol Konopacki told the approximately 20 people attending the board meeting of Porter County's refusal to take Portage's stray animals.
Board member Chris Skrenka said the shelter will continue to have open admission of animals.
The humane society has come under fire from local animal activists and Portage city officials, prompting Monday night's meeting.
Activists have called for more transparency from the shelter, including being able to see the number of animals it brings in and the number of euthanasias it performs. They also said board meetings haven't been advertised so the public could attend.
Some Portage officials were upset recently when they learned a report that showed 60 percent of the animals picked up by Portage Animal Control and taken to the Hobart facility were euthanized from June 2014 through June of this year. In Hobart, around 40 percent of the animals brought in during all of 2014 were put down, according to statistics provided by the shelter to the city.
Skrenka questioned the accuracy of those numbers and reiterated that the humane society is the only nonprofit in the area that takes in animals from three communities.
"We're not a rescue group. We don't have the luxury of choosing what animals we'll take in," Skrenka said.
"We don't have a sign up front that says bring your animals to us. We're the last stop for most people," he added.
Still, he said, the goal of the shelter is to get as many animals adopted as possible as quickly as possible. He said the average stay before adoption is six days.
Mary Watson, shelter supporter, said the shelter's detractors aren't helping anyone, especially the animals.
"I've adopted animals from here. They need community support," she said.
Cate Amador, one of the activists seeking more transpareny and less euthanasias at the shelter, said she received some numbers from the City of Hobart concerning animals brought in and euthanized at the shelter that came from Hobart, but asked for more detailed numbers.
"The numbers I received were confusing. How many went to rescues? Several organizations are looking for these numbers. There are grants out there for spaying and neutering, but they need the numbers," she said.
Some attending the meeting asked how they could help and offered their support.
"We need to start working together instead of fighting. We need to move forward," said Jamie Peyton, a Union Township resident who said she wanted to be a board member.
Board president Laura Labadie said the board is working on a new website for the shelter that will have more information, including the date and time of board meetings.
She said she thought Monday's meeting was productive.
"We got a great feel of the peoples' thoughts," she said.
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