Under current Greenfield and Hancock County ordinances, an impounded animal may be placed for adoption or humanely disposed of after five days in circumstances covered by those rules. We are asking local leaders to make a clear distinction between when an animal may find a new home and when an animal may be euthanized simply because no one has claimed or adopted them.

We call on the Greenfield Common Council and Hancock County officials to adopt matching changes that:

• Continue to allow adoption or transfer to a qualified rescue after the existing five-day period.
•  Prohibit non-emergency euthanasia solely because an animal remains unclaimed or unadopted until at least 14 days after impoundment.
•  Require documented efforts during that time to locate an owner and seek an adopter, foster home, or rescue placement.
•  Require euthanasia decisions based on behavior to consider multiple documented sources of information, rather than relying solely on one shelter behavior test, while allowing prompt action when there is a serious, documented safety or medical concern.

This proposal does not ask the shelter to prolong an animal’s suffering or disregard a serious danger. It asks our community to give animals more time and give life-or-death decisions the care they deserve.

Greenfield–Hancock Animal Management serves animals from across our county. Whether we live inside Greenfield city limits or elsewhere in Hancock County, we have a stake in the rules that guide their care.

Please sign to ask Greenfield and Hancock County leaders to sponsor and pass these changes. If you live locally, consider including your town or township when you share why this matters to you.