Officers say pet owners following new outdoor ordinances
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Just because it’s starting to warm up doesn’t mean Animal Care and Control (IACC) officers are slowing down.
They’re still following up on several calls about pets being left outside over the frigid weekend. As we’ve reported, new city ordinances related to keeping pets outside went into place before this winter.
The laws are more strict and specific. So besides just enforcing them, IACC said the main goal is educating people.
“Knowing that the temperatures were going to drop we’ve gone into our ‘extreme temperature mode’ per say,” said Kim Wolsiffer, Deputy Chief of Enforcement at IACC. That meant having officers work over time to make sure any pets left outside are in safe conditions.
“First and foremost we want to educate people because unfortunately there’s a lot of folks that don’t even know that there’s ordinances pertaining to their animals,” she said. Some also don’t know that the ordinances have changed.
Starting this winter, if it’s less than 40 degrees outside dog houses must have straw in them for warmth and a flap on the door. If it’s less than 20 degrees, pets can’t be outside at all.
“We went into a neighborhood where we know there are a high number of outside dogs and unfortunately there were a lot out,” said Darcie Kurtz, founder of Friends of Indianapolis Dogs Outside (F.I.D.O.).
The group gives pet owners the supplies necessary to follow city ordinances. Sunday, they visited the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood to hand out straw, dog houses and crates.
“Some of the people just weren’t interested,” she said. “Some the people just wouldn’t answer the door, some of the people said ‘My dogs are fine, I’ve been doing this for years.’”
Kurtz said they actually reported six pet owners to IACC. We knew of one dog that was confiscated by IACC for an ordinance violation this weekend. But Kurtz said for the most part, it appears people are following the new laws. Wolsiffer noticed it, too.
From Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, Wolsiffer said there have been 89 ordinance violations.
“Where we were last year, we’re pretty much on par with the violations that are being written,” Wolsiffer said.
“There’s a good segment of the population, if they know what the legal requirements are, they will try to adhere to it and I think we’re seeing a lot of that,” said Kurtz.
Wolsiffer said one of the reasons they haven’t written more violations this year because of the effort F.I.D.O. and other groups have taken to educate pet owners.
Another reason is the weather. It’s been an unseasonably warm winter, so there have been fewer opportunities for people to break the law,
Wolsiffer said one complaint they’ve had is that people are struggling to contact IACC when they see someone breaking the law.
She suggested that instead of calling the Mayor’s Action Center, people should use the Request Indy phone app.
She also suggested people fill out the online form for the Mayor’s Action Center. “You can submit your complaint that way and that’s much more direct route to get to us,” she said.