Wednesday, September 24, 2025
www.thepapersonline.com
Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties
Know Your Neighbor . . . . . 2➤ Entertainment . . . . . . . . .6 & 7
Vol. 55, No. 13
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
OVERLOADED — The Animal Welfare League recently sent a call out after having to take in 37 cats and a dog due to a hoarding situation. The shelter was already overcapacity with animals when it needed to seize the additional animals. Shown are the kennels where some of the cats are being housed until fosters can be found to care for them while the case works its way through the judicial process. Photo provided by Sydney Langhorn.
AWL ANSWERS THE CALL to protect animals in hoarding, abuse situations
By LAUREN ZEUGNER Staff Writer We see them all the time — social media posts or televised news reports of how the local animal shelter has been called in to rescue a large number of animals due to hoarding or animal abuse . These types of calls always seem to take place when the shelter is full to capacity . Tonya Blanchard, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County, explained the shelter is called in to assist local law enforcement, code enforcement or the health department in such cases . In the case of animal abuse, the police with either bring the animal to the shelter or if there are too many, shelter staff will go out with a van stocked with carriers, catch poles and other equipment to capture the animals so they can be brought to the shelter . Once at the shelter, a state veterinarian is called in to evaluate each animal . Usually what the state vet is looking for is the body mass of the animal and a general health check . “You can’t miss anything or they (the offender) can walk,” ex-
plained Jill Smith, a dog kennel technician at AWL . During the exam, the state vet will also look at the animal’s teeth to try and determine its age . After the state vet looks the animals over, local veterinarians will come in to assess each animal and come up with a treatment plan . “Pictures are invaluable in cases like this,” Smith said . “They are photographed to death .” Photos are taken at the scene and of the animals condition as evidence in the case . As the local vets do their assessments, staff take detailed notes on what they find and treatments are started . From the time the animal is pulled from an abuse situation until the case goes to trial can take upwards of a month . During that time, the animal must remain in the custody of AWL . Blanchard explained the shelter usually has fosters, who take these animals in and cares for them . Often it becomes a foster fail situation where the animal is adopted once the case is resolved . Getting the animals rescued from these situations back to health also takes time . Animals
that are underweight need more smaller meals to put the pounds back on . “Usually the smell of the place, the sight of the animals, you don’t forget,” Blanchard said . “That’s hard on us .” What tends to happen is the shelter is called in for a hoarding or abuse case when it’s at capacity . When that happens, the shelter turns to the public for help . That assistance can range from people coming in to adopt or foster animals already at the shelter to help make room to donating necessary supplies . AWL has been at capacity for a while, to the point it has offered sponsored adoptions for several months . AWL has about four to five hoarding cases a year, which could be anywhere from having six to eight dogs to something much more extreme . Staff are working to educate the community about animal abuse and hoarding situations . “A big thing in animal welfare is capacity awareness,” Sydney Langhorn, director of the AWL’s cat house, said . Another issue is people pick a particular dog or cat without re-
DOCUMENTING HIS CONDITION — Brooklyn Lyon, takes photos of a pup named Ralph, while Ashley Vanderpool holds him. Ralph came into the AWL dirty, covered in fleas and with a skin condition which has caused large bald patches. Lyon is documenting his condition should his owner try to claim him later. Photo by Lauren Zeugner searching the breed and learning what behavior is “normal” for that breed . “You need to be an involved owner,” Langhorn stressed . AWL staff wish people would have a plan when it comes to adding a pet to the family, rather than acting on impulse . The penalties for hoarding
depends on how many animals are involved and their physical condition when they were seized . Smith said it’s usually a fine and community service hours . “I think there needs to be harsher penalties,” she said . AWL staff would like to see animal abuse punished by actual jail time .