The Humane Society of Hobart plans to start billing communities for animals being brought in from outside its jurisdiction, amid mounting financial challenges. The organization has contracts to provide animal control services to Hobart, Lake Station and New Chicago. But Executive Director Jenny Webber estimates that more than half of the animals it's gotten this year came from other places. She said many growing communities simply don't have the resources or facilities.
"Residents want to live in humane communities," Webber said during a press conference Thursday during Adopt a Hoosier Shelter Pet Week. "They don't want to see free-roaming injured pets running and overpopulating our areas, and so they're looking for help. They're picking up these pets, and then they find out they hit a brick wall because if they're in Merrillville, there's nowhere to go."
That's putting a strain on the Humane Society of Hobart. Webber said it has a capacity of 29 dogs. Currently, it's housing close to 60. It's also over-capacity for cats, with many more in foster care.
She said animals from outside the organization's jurisdiction have cost it $270,000 this year. "This is not sustainable for us, and because of the overcrowding and recent Mycoplasma outbreak costing $40,000, we are now unable to make payroll at Thanksgiving," Webber explained. "We have had to lay off two employees, and this is a very serious, serious matter."
It's one part of what she said is a nationwide trend of more animals being taken to shelters and fewer being adopted. Many of the factors are economic: rising costs, a lack of affordable pet-inclusive housing and a shortage of veterinarians.
Locally, Webber said there are only two vets north of I-80/94. "That's impossible," she said. "That is more than a shortage. It's called inequity. It's called exclusivity, is what it's called, and that is driving our intake, as well."
Further complicating matters, according to Webber, is that Lake County is currently served by more than 20 separate agencies that aren't always coordinated, leading to duplication of efforts. "Pet homelessness is a public problem, in which we need a public solution for, but not one agency can keep working at this, like the Humane Society of Hobart. We need our government partners across Lake County to be seated at the table, and we need our donors and adopters to come back to us," Webber added.
And some challenges are more internal. Webber said the Humane Society of Hobart's aging facility has plumbing and electric problems, and the organization eventually wants to move to a new space.
"We have no isolation units and no proper quarantine areas, so when we do have a disease outbreak, we can go from a few dogs sick in the evening to a full kennel by the morning, in which that's what we experienced during the Mycoplasma outbreak," Webber said.
