Within days of being assigned as interim administrator of Indianapolis Animal Care & Control, Spencer Moore is already being disparaged by representatives of the Indianapolis animal welfare alliance.
“I feel like he represents the absolute, worst, darkest period in Indianapolis animal welfare,” says Sue Hobbs, Chair of the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control Board and the Humane Society of Indianapolis representative to the Board.
“We’re just hearing a lot of concerning reports from a variety of people, people on the City-County Council, former administrators, a variety of staff people,” said Darcie Kurtz, director of outreach and medical services for FACE low-cost spay and neuter clinic. “The concerns are that the progress that is being made might be shifting in the opposite direction.”
Moore was the administrator at Animal Control in the ’90s and is not new to the division. This assignment gives him the opportunity to see what progress has been made since then. A darker period at IACC actually preceded Spencer Moore’s tenure, and it may be that he actually helped to improve the situation at IACC.
Karen Patitz, who used to work at HSI, reports:
I was involved with HSI and IACC back in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
If I remember correctly, IACC never allowed the public to enter unless they were looking for a lost animal. Until Spencer Moore came along, every animal that entered IACC DIED unless it was returned to its owner. No animals were ever transferred from IACC to the Humane Society, no matter how adoptable.
Spencer is the one who started vaccinating puppies and placing them up for adoption instead of killing them. He started from the ground up to what we have today as far as animals leaving IACC alive.
He also started a television program designed to help pet owners with training tips and animal care. It was the predecessor of the Pet Pals TV that we enjoy today.
The bigger picture
Critics are missing the mark by blaming Moore for changes that are making it harder for animals to get out of IACC alive and into the hands of rescue organizations.
In an April 16 video, “Animal Care and Control head suspended again, two investigators let go” Fox 59’s Yvonne Man noted:
The director of Indianapolis Animal Care and Control is suspended and it’s the second time in two months. Now, there are questions about a bigger problem regarding possible mismanagement at a higher level.
On April 21, Man reported Shackle’s resignation. A photo accompanying the story on Fox 59’s website shows Shackle and Moore with Public Safety Director Troy Riggs (far right) and AFSCME union leader Steve Quick (far left) whose members staff IACC.
Riggs certainly represents higher-level management. Quick has an arrest record and an interesting history with local law enforcement and political influence.
After leaving Indianapolis, fired IACC administrator Doug Rae told blogger Gary Welsh that the Mayor’s office, Department of Public Safety, City Legal and Human Resources were all about “bowing” to the union’s “every wish.”
There has been no administration at IACC whose actions have not been constrained by influence coming from a “higher level.”
At the time of Shackle’s first suspension, field agent Tony Laucevicius was terminated when employees filed a complaint over an incident in which he threw a coffee mug.
“[It was] just an argument or disagreement with an employee and [he] maybe threw a coffee cup,” said Valerie Washington, Indianapolis public safety deputy director. “[The incident] was what we would have considered an aggravated assault. It was behavior that was not tolerated.”
Laucevicius told FOX59 that was not the case at all. He blames other employees for creating a hostile work environment. It’s a culture, he said, that needs to change.
Spencer Moore doesn’t deserve the blame for the cultural issues at IACC that hamper efforts to save the animals. “I’m doing this as a favor to somebody who needed someone to come out and try to handle this,” he told WISH TV.
One wonders if “this” refers to possible mismanagement at a higher level.