MUNCIE, Ind. — Muncie Animal Care & Services has been operating over capacity for weeks, and an incident Sunday made matters worse.
An animal control officer found 15 cats and kittens — some as young as one week old — that had been dumped by the White River near Reynard Road. The cats were left there in a small cage and without food or water.
The shelter is looking for any information on who may have left the cats there. Animal control Director Ethan Browning said he plans to "hold these people responsible to the best of my ability for the trauma and pain they put these animals through."
Browning said Muncie Animal Care & Services has been over capacity by 100 cats for several weeks. The shelter currently has more than 400 cats in their care. Many of those cases are due to hoarding and abandonment situations, he said.
"Hoarders need professional help to prevent the situation from happening again, and if that takes pressing charges to get court ordered therapy, then that is what we need to do. We cannot continue to use taxpayer dollars ineffectively by constantly cleaning up the symptoms of a much larger problem," Browning said. "We have to start tackling the root cause. The recidivism rate for these cases is almost 100%. This year alone we have dealt with 6 cat hoarding cases, and several dog neglect or abandonment situations. The community and officials have to be proactive and work together."
The shelter is in the midst of its autumn adoption special, Fall in Love. The special allows individuals to adopt dogs, cats and kittens for just $5 through Oct. 22. Senior animals (6 years old or older) and animals that have been at the shelter for for six months or longer will have adoption fees waived.
To see adoptable pets at the shelter, click here.