INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis City-County Council is not moving forward with appointing Kelly Diamond as the director of the Indianapolis Animal Care Services.
The council voted 21 to 4 to indefinitely table the proposal at Monday's meeting.
Specifically, members mentioned the last meeting which had hours of public comment against Diamond and concerns about specific IACS policies.
Indianapolis Animal Care Services follows a managed intake system, meaning the shelter requires an appointment for those looking to surrender an animal.
A spokesperson tells WRTV this is to ensure there is the space, staffing, and resources to provide sufficient care.
But Humane Society for Hamilton County President and CEO Rebecca Stevens says the strategy places the burden of responsibility on taxpayers, local rescues and neighboring shelters like hers.
“This is chaos. They've created a public safety nightmare," Stevens said. “They are solely responsible for creating basically an animal welfare crisis in the state of Indiana because they just didn't want to open the doors again."
An IACS spokesperson tells WRTV that wait times depend on the type of animal and the situation.
Animals determined to be sick, injured or aggressive may qualify for same-day intake.
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Stevens says the wait times can be over five weeks.
She says this forces people to either take the animal home, release it back into the streets or seek another shelter.
“I've got people who drop the leash in my lobby and leave. They go out front and drop the leash and leave. They're abandoning them across the street. There's no other place to go, and they can't take them. They're being dumped at my facility by the hundreds," she said.
HSHC confirmed it took in 312 Marion County animals in 2024, for an average length of stay of 124 days.
HSHC estimates it’s spent roughly $852,000 on these animals.
That cost includes things like searching for the owner, medical exams, triage, micro-chipping, vaccines, de-worming, disease testing, temperament testing, plus the daily cost of basic care.
Stevens says most of this is funded by Hamilton County taxpayers, not Marion County.
"The impact that this has had on my team, taking in these additional animals, operating at capacity every single day. I mean, Tetris at the end of every single day. Offices are filled [with dogs]. Any place you can put a dog, there's a dog," she said.
This is not just a Hamilton County issue.
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Cari Klotzsche says the Johnson County Animal Shelter is impacted as well.
“We probably get at least five phone calls a day from Marion County residents that want to bring in either their dogs or strays they found to our facility," Klotzsche said.
The facility only has 48 dog kennels and right now there are over 70 dogs in the shelter.
Klotzsche says her shelter can’t handle the animals turned away from IACS.
“Their policies cause undue stress for my staff and my shelter and my capacity. We’re filling our facility with their animals, instead of animals from within our county," she said.
You can read the full statement from IACS here:
IACS is an open-intake shelter following a managed intake system, as allowed by local ordinances. IACS is required to intake animals from Marion County residents and animals that are found in Marion County. IACS requires appointments to ensure there is the space, staffing, and resources to provide sufficient care for the animals in our shelter. Animals determined to be sick, injured, or aggressive may qualify for same-day intake.
The wait time for other animals depends on the type of animal and the situation.
It is important to note that shelters in neighboring counties are not obligated to take in animals from Marion County. IACS is regularly told that neighboring counties are also not accepting animals and experiencing wait times for intake, so this situation is not unique to Indianapolis. It is one being seen in shelters across Central Indiana and the entire country.
