Humane Society of Hobart director: ‘We’re facing a crisis’

“This is a very serious matter,” Webber told guests Thursday at an eye-opening press conference. “Recently we’ve seen some alarming trends. We’re facing a few crises that are new and converging.”

Webber is executive director of the Humane Society of Hobart, which will soon mark its 70th year in operation. But the overburdened, understaffed and antiquated animal shelter is limping toward this milestone.

“This shelter may not see that 70th year,” Webber said at the end of Adopt A Hoosier Shelter Pet Week. “We have three to four months of operational funding left before we close our doors.”

The brief but effective press conference served as a dog whistle to get the attention of pet lovers who can help rescue the Humane Society of Hobart, which boasts a 98% save rate.

The facility’s capacity for proper care is 39 felines and 29 canines. The shelter currently houses 60 dogs and 50 cats, with another 150 cats in foster care.

“This is not sustainable for us,” Webber said.

The shelter welcomes an annual intake of roughly 3,000 animals, mostly dogs and cats but also reptiles, farm animals and other critters. Roughly 1,100 animals come from Hobart, Lake Station and East Chicago. More than 1,200 are coming from outside of the organization’s jurisdiction.

“As a result of this overcrowding … we are experiencing a Mycoplasma outbreak that has already cost more than $37,000 and sadly the lives of two pets,” Webber said.

Increased intake is being driven by inflation as well as lack of affordable pet-inclusive housing, veterinary care, field services and animal resources in neighboring communities.

“We are carrying the load for multiple cities in Lake County and Porter County,” Webber said.

Many Region towns and cities do not have field services and animal control, forcing those communities to seek help from the Hobart shelter or to simply tie them to its building and play yards. It’s currently contracted to provide field services for Hobart, Lake Station and East Chicago.

“We will not make it if communities like Merrillville, Valparaiso, Crown Point and Portage don’t step up,” Webber said. “We will be invoicing them.”

This is a problem that’s plagued animal shelters for decades with no coordinated plans in place to rescue them as they do for countless pets. This is a public problem that needs a public solution.

“We need our government partners across Lake and Porter counties to be seated at the table. And we need our donors and adopters to come back to us,” Webber said.

Working together is key, she said.

Field training is needed in each city. Funding avenue streams can be found in licensing, the county dog tax and red flag funding.

“Now we need municipalities on board,” she said.

Hobart’s next mayor-elect, Josh Huddlestun, attended the press conference to pledge his assistance after he gets into office.

“On Jan. 1 we will re-engage and look for solutions to not only solve the problem now but to prevent it in the future,” he said as dogs kept barking.

The shelter’s landlocked building, which can’t be expanded, is also part of the problem.

“Our building is crumbling,” Webber said, noting the group’s hope and plans for a new building.

According to Shelter Animals Count, alarming trends are emerging in which more dogs are entering the shelters than leaving, less are leaving with a live outcome, and shelter length of stay has tripled.

“The crisis shelters are facing does not originate within the shelters,” Stephanie Filer, SAC’s executive director, said in a statement. “Shelters need help now more than ever. This is a community problem that requires a community solution.”

In Northwest Indiana, more than 20 organizations related to animal care, rescue and adoption are not connected as a unified front.

“They’re operating independently and duplicating efforts,” Webber said.

Here’s how you can help.

“We need volunteers. We need doctors. We need donations,” Webber said.

On Nov. 30, the final meeting of the year for a coalition to address this issue.

“We need leaders and decision-makers at this table,” Webber said.

Donations to the Humane Society’s national organization do not trickle down to the local chapters, she noted.

“We are our own nonprofit,” she said.

If you can’t donate money or items, you can become a volunteer or a foster owner, even for a temporary period. (To help, contact the shelter at 2054 E. State Road 130 in Hobart at 219-942-0103 or visit its Facebook page and www.hshobart.org, where donations can be made online.)

“You can save lives by taking these pets home so they’re not infected here in the shelter,” Webber said. “We need all stakeholders to work in coalition with each other to solve this public problem before it is too late.”

And the dogs never stopped barking.