Help me!

Wow! $200?! When mom and dad adopted me 8 years ago, I was only $70! An SPCA license plate would be awesome, that's a great idea!

They actually can go up to $350 and $400 if they are a "popular" breed now, which in my opinion is ridiculous. They raised the adoption fee on "in demand dogs" in hopes of steering people towards the other dogs...but I don't think that's the way to do it, personally. Anyway, please know that the dogs stay on the adoption floor indefinately until they are adopted. It's not true that they have a set amount of time and then are euthanized. If dogs are going to be euthanized, it's done before they reach the floor. The dogs on the adoption floor stay unless they develop a severe case of "kennel crazy" but that doesn't happen too often because they are now given enrichement and there are lots of dog runs thanks to a massive donation a couple years ago.

Yes...that is a lot! And cats are $120. I noticed that there are a lot of black cats for adoption. Why doesn't anyone want them? SO SAD!

Pricing an animal that high does several things:

1. It sends the message that one animal's life is more valuable than another.

2. It steers people to pet stores or backyard breeders, ("My neighbor got a foo-foo dog at the shelter for $250 and I wanted one too, They didn't have one but I found one in the paper" or "I went to Uncle Bills, they didn't have one but I couldnt help but not get another little buy that looksed so sad." How do you say "buying from a pet store promotes puppy mill perpetuation/"

Shelter's need to be out-marketing pet stores and paper ads, and high - pricing animals does just the opposite.

Dog god, help us all have better discretion!

There is a site that is working to help people understand the profound dysfunction in animal sheltering that I have recently been introduced to in the last few months.
www.movetoact.org. Take some time to get aquainted because these folks have studied the issues more thoroughly than I have ever known.

Wallace,

There are a lot of people attending the "move to act" seminar next Monday. It will be great to hear all the stuff they talk about! There is a lot of "business" dysfunction in shelter, lack of management, bad communication, etc that burden the work environment and take away from the real goal and purpose which is the animals of course. I definately agree with you about the pricing animals too high--it's the wrong way to go about doing the right thing.

I'm going to, Alena. Lots to learn. The question will be if the people who are in charge of the most number of animals in Indianapolis wlll be there, (ie folks from ACC and HSI)?

That is a good question and they probably won't be as I'd imagine most the staff is at work on Mondays and is never alowed to leave early--nor do they (or at least not when I worked there) like to make exceptions for important education seminars that might offer some insight and guidelines...God forbid anybody try something new that might work and help everyone involved...

The $120 cats are typically kittens under 5mo, the theory/hopes being that more older cats will be adopted because they are less expensive. If you'd total up the cost for the services HSI puts into a kitten (spay/neuter, FeLV test, de-flea, de-worm, 4+1vacc, microchip) using FACE's pricing (least expensive place I know of), the total comes to about $97. If the kitten needs earmite treatment, add in another $14. If the kitten develops a URI, add in more $$. Then there's food, litter and such... All things considered, $120 isn't a bad price to adopt a kitten for what you receive and it's a LOT cheaper than what it would all cost through a full-service vet.

My brother adopted a cat for $65 from HSI. Their animals are all priced differently. I got Minnie for $95 because she had been there awhile. She also came with a collar and a whole bag of treats. She was a real bargain! :) ACC adoption fee is (I think) $65. That's another option. I would almost bet most of the dogs priced higher are purebreds, and people pay those prices for them. Otherwise, they wouldn't price them that way.

$200 is a small price for a dog or cat compared to the cost for a pet over a lifetime. If a person can't afford $200 for a pet, can they really afford the vet bills, food, toys, etc. that come with having a pet? Pets require much more than love and they can often be quite expensive. Often these shelters have spayed/neutered, vaccinated and worked on other health issues of the animal, not to mention feeding and cleaning up after them while they are at the shelter. Those costs usually amount to well over what you pay for the adoption.

As far as your second comment about license plates, if you are a resident of Indiana then you are represented by Senators and Representatives in the Indiana General Assembly. Contact your representatives and they are the ones who can help in the creation of a license plate. You can find out more info on who represents you at www.in.gov/legislature.