Please save my feral colony in Schererville Indiana
The Issue
Approximately six years ago there were feral/stray cats living in our neighborhood. At that time the staff of Schererville Animal Control worked with me to trap them, some more than once, as we found a few belonged to families on the next block in St. John Indiana.
About 3 years ago I suddenly could not get my telephone calls and messages returned from animal control. I didn’t know what was going on, but I suddenly had a few of cats living in our yard in our bushes and did not know what to do. Our dog had recently died and we weren’t worried about them being attacked, just worried for their well-being. We contacted our local humane society who said they do not take strays or ferals, and no rescue would either. This went on for 2 years. During that time as I called dozens of rescues, no one shared with me what my options were and what I should do to stop the cats from reproducing and the colony from growing. I learned to hand-feed orphaned baby kittens, worked diligently to find them homes, and was on my own dealing with the issues. I provided a heated garage during the winter and food, water and litter boxes according to instructions received from the Alley Cat Allies web page on how to care for a feral cat colony. I could not afford to spay/neuter them because it was between $200 and $300 per cat.
Then a neighbor bordering my property complained to Schererville Animal Control that she could see cats coming out of the side door of my garage and also that there was poop on her lawn. We received citations from animal control for caring for the cats. To make the neighbor happy, we paid $5,000 to extend our white vinyl privacy fence to include the side door of the garage so that any cat that came for shelter in inclement weather would not be able to walk over to the neighbor’s yard. We had talked with animal control during this time who said they would take kittens from us if we had any hiding in the yard. We happily gave them kittens and found out some had died and others had been euthanized. I had already cared for kittens myself and knew what needed to be done for them, which was washing them with Dawn detergent to rid them of fleas and de-worming them. They said they had applied chemical flea killer to those kittens which were under 6 weeks which will make them gravely ill. This is when I found out that Schererville Animal Control is not a no-kill shelter. When we went into court for the citations, they had the judge order us to reimburse them for euthanizing of the kittens, as well as pay additional fines. One thing that stood out in my memory was Officer Jan Kalinowski complaining how upset she was that when she came to the door that we didn’t answer it. We explained to the judge that our house is very large and we don’t always hear the door. I didn’t know at the time, but this complaint would be relevant later. At that same court date, the judge ordered us to make our yard “cat unfriendly” and not provide them with food or shelter.
Around the same time, Animal Control received a complaint from a police officer who lived on the other side of us that there was cat poop on his lawn. He has since divorced and moved away. Subsequently, Officer Jan Kalinowski showed up at my door while I was having flooring and other work done inside my home and asked to enter my home and I told her it wasn’t a good time. She then contacted her supervisor who arrived and demanded I let him enter my house. When I told him no he said “Well then I am going to have to write you a citation for having your trash cans in front of your house.” Ironically, that morning was trash pick-up and my cans had not yet been moved into the yard. I then got my teen son to help me bring the cans behind the gate out of view, where they are always stored. I went into the house and closed the door and then received 14 violations from Animal Control in the mail not long thereafter.
I did not attend that court date because I was ill, but my husband did and he found that animal control had gone to all the local veterinarians and asked for a list of any and all animals we have had treated at their offices. We had found wonderful private rescues who have taught us how to trap, gave us names of vets where we can spay/neuter at a very low cost, and we were doing it as fast as we could trap them. Animal control, by finding the time to visit our veterinarians and local spay/neuter locations, has shown this isn’t a code enforcement violation, this is them fishing for things to ticket us for. My husband tried to explain to the judge that we were TNRing (trap-neuter-releasing) the cats and this is the only way to control the population. Killing them is not the answer, which is what animal control’s method is for ferals and strays, and starving them is inhumane. The judge said he would let us know our fine and we then received a letter from Judge Anderson indicating that our fine was over $2000.
On July 22, 2015, exactly one day after we paid our fine for the previous citations, Schererville Animal Control crossed the line with my civil rights. They showed up at my door while I was taking a bath. I didn't answer, not only because I was in the bathtub, but because I didn't hear them. When I got out of the bathtub, I saw my husband had called and left a message so I returned his call. He told me that the police called him on his cell phone to ask him if I was okay because the door was open but I wasn't answering the door. My security storm door was locked, but my main door was a few inches open. He told them I was probably asleep. I decided to check the security system video and saw that at 2:06 p.m. Schererville Animal Control employees Jan Kalinowski and Angela Malinowski arrived at the door and when I didn’t answer left at 2:10 p.m. At 2:26 p.m., both Kalinowski and Malinowski returned with two Schererville Police Officers. One officer disappears off the video from the porch and enters the latched gate to my yard, goes around to my back sun room and enters that unlocked door to my house and is shown at 2:29 p.m. exiting my front storm door which had to be unlocked from the inside. He then re-enters my house for another minute before finally exiting and they all leave. He left my storm door unlocked when they all left. There was no business card left, no message on the answering machine from them to tell me they were here, and I wouldn’t have even known they were in my house unless I viewed the security video. There was no reason for animal control to contact the police and or be worried about my safety or well-being. The storm door was adequately locked. I was soaking in my bathtub with my bathroom door open on the second level of my house. My 18 year old son was asleep in his room upstairs. I own a firearm and if I had heard an intruder I would have shot them. I had a radio on in the bathroom and I can only assume he came up the stairs and saw I was alive in the tub or why would he have exited my house? Then I remembered that Jan Kalinowski complained previously that we don’t answer the door when we are home. There is no law stating that I have to answer my door when someone rings my doorbell. Clearly they are strong-arming me and showing they will enter my house whenever they want, and this is a personal issue with me and this has nothing to do with well-being of the outdoor colony.
I went to the police station that evening to file a report with my husband. The officer in charge of taking the report said he couldn’t find anything in the system about them being in the house or even being at the house and was going to check and get back to us later that evening. He did get back to us later and told us that the officer who entered the house was in training and was not aware of the protocol. I am pretty sure that every single officer everywhere knows the protocol about entering someone’s home, especially when the door was locked and they had spoken to my husband who told them I was probably asleep. I asked him if the officer saw me in the tub and he said he didn’t. After we talked to that officer, I thought about it and it didn’t make any sense. Why rush to enter my house and then leave if he didn’t know if I was okay? He came into the house before they even called my husband. Also they talked to my neighbor next door who said my door is always cracked open like that. So the officer didn’t even wait 3 minutes until they talked with my husband or my neighbor to illegally enter my yard and my home? Who was this officer and what lie did animal control tell him that he would risk being shot by entering someone’s home without permission? The officer who took my report also said animal control wanted us to call them, which we did later that night after we heard the lie for them illegally entering my home. My husband called and spoke on the phone with Angela Malinowski of animal control. He explained to her we are nearing the last couple cats being TNR’d and have found rescues to take any kittens after they were spayed/neutered and received their vaccinations. She said animal control wanted to work with us and then she and my husband agreed that we would check in with them monthly with a status and also told them we are looking for a new home outside of Schererville and will re-trap the ear-tipped cats and relocate them to our new property. That was on July 22nd.
On August 5th, a week and a half later, animal control employees Kalinowski and Malinowski were at my front door. I told them we were almost done with TNR and told them how upset I was about the police coming into my home. I told them we were looking for a new home and would relocate the colony. A week later we received four more citations in the mail, with a first court hearing date of September 8th, 2015. They said they want to support what we are doing but issued four more fines less than a week after they say that. They tried to tell me at the door that they had nothing to do with the police going into the house, but in the video they are seen standing laughing on the porch with the police. They know we sometimes don’t answer the door. They said so in court. When someone doesn't answer the door, it doesn't give them the right to illegally enter my home when my door was locked. It isn't against the law to not answer your door.
On Tuesday, September 8th, 2015, the town court, specifically Judge Kenneth Anderson, wanted Schererville Animal Control to come to my house in two days to take them all, but they said they didn't have room yet. They are not a no-kill shelter. They have fined us over $4,000 in the last year and a half and I have worked tirelessly to TNR these cats and get them vaccinated and ear-tipped and have saved their lives. This town is on a mission to take these poor animals and kill them because a couple of my neighbors hate cats. One neighbor who complained in court said he is old and retired and unable to deal with a cat poop issue. He also has a large dog that poops on his own lawn and is frequently out without a leash, rides his Harley and his ATV, and hand-built a deck and a shed this summer which just shows he exaggerated his physical condition to make him look like a victim. Another neighbor who complained locked his dog in the garage for 5 years at night and then weekly washed the urine and feces down our public sewer system. The last person to complain has a house behind him that has dogs and he said he can smell cat poop in his yard, but he has a closed tall privacy fence and is most likely smelling the poop from the house behind him in St. John Indiana. He left a large pile of mulch on his driveway for over a month and the cats were drawn to it and they did poop on it once and he threw the poop onto my sidewalk. They are not credible witnesses, but that doesn't matter when Animal Control goes on a witch hunt. I am completely willing and ready to leave this town after 18 years to save these animals. These cats cannot be adopted out because they are not social lap cats and need to stay with their colony in a safe, protected space. They have not had to hunt for food because I am providing it for them. They will not do well in a barn situation where they have to hunt to eat.
As the police already illegally entered my home last month while I was taking a bath, I am living in fear that they will do it again. My health is failing and my auto-immune disease has flared up because of them causing me so much stress worrying that I won't close on a new home before they do some swat team maneuver and harm these precious souls. They are killing me in the process too. Please visit Alley Cat Allies and do research and support Trap-Neuter-Release. It is the only way to control overpopulation. And, please, tell Schererville Animal Control to just give me time to leave and save these precious souls. I will be out of this heartless town before Halloween.
Schererville needs to get on board with methods that are caring toward these animals and support responsible caretakers and rescuers, not come confiscate the animals.
Animal rights advocates have already offered to contact the local newspaper for me, urged me to immediately start petitions, and have also offered to picket my court dates. I know that the veterinarian who runs the Neuter-Scooter has already written Judge Anderson because she was completely outraged to find out how much we have already paid in fines for doing right by these precious animals. She travels all around the country doing Spay/Neuter at reduced cost and knows that TNR programs work.
Last summer I also spoke with Lake County Animal Control about their TNR program. They fully support TNR and said they will not even come to pick up a feral or stray because it is a death sentence. There are other towns in Lake County who also support TNR and do not fine caretakers for offering food and shelter to their ear-tipped feline friends. In 2007 Cook County, Illinois, they passed legislation for TNRing and it has proven it is working. Indianapolis has the most wonderful TNR program I have heard of so far, through FACE Spay/Neuter and IndyFeral. They have trained many counties in Indiana and understand this is the only way to handle community cat situations.
I have already paid over $4200.00 worth of fines, have been bullied by Animal Control, they have caused financial stress on my family, and incredible negative affects on my health. Feral cats are not dangerous to people. They hide during the day and only show up at dusk. Anyone who says they are dangerous has not taken the time to do their research or get training. There are other feral colony caretakers in Schererville that I have met through an underground rescuer network. I wish I had connected to them early on so I could have kept my own colony to a few. I have learned so much from these wonderful people, and they have learned the hard way, like I have, that not everyone cares about all animals, especially animal control.
At this point I don’t have more than 10 cats which come and go. I have worked tirelessly to make the rest of the adults at least semi-social so that I can get near enough to them to apply flea treatments. They are spayed/neutered, have their ears tipped and they have their rabies shots.
I NEED EVERYONE'S HELP TO SIGN THIS PETITION AND CONTACT SCHERERVILLE ANIMAL CONTROL. THEY HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE. ASK THEM TO LEAVE ME ALONE AND LET ME TAKE MY COLONY AND LEAVE THIS TOWN.
I made an offer yesterday on a new home with acreage and in a TNR friendly town, but it will take up to six weeks to close and I just don't want to have to worry that they are going to show up and again enter illegally. I can barely eat or sleep because they can't be trusted.
Please, please help us stop this insanity.
The Issue
Approximately six years ago there were feral/stray cats living in our neighborhood. At that time the staff of Schererville Animal Control worked with me to trap them, some more than once, as we found a few belonged to families on the next block in St. John Indiana.
About 3 years ago I suddenly could not get my telephone calls and messages returned from animal control. I didn’t know what was going on, but I suddenly had a few of cats living in our yard in our bushes and did not know what to do. Our dog had recently died and we weren’t worried about them being attacked, just worried for their well-being. We contacted our local humane society who said they do not take strays or ferals, and no rescue would either. This went on for 2 years. During that time as I called dozens of rescues, no one shared with me what my options were and what I should do to stop the cats from reproducing and the colony from growing. I learned to hand-feed orphaned baby kittens, worked diligently to find them homes, and was on my own dealing with the issues. I provided a heated garage during the winter and food, water and litter boxes according to instructions received from the Alley Cat Allies web page on how to care for a feral cat colony. I could not afford to spay/neuter them because it was between $200 and $300 per cat.
Then a neighbor bordering my property complained to Schererville Animal Control that she could see cats coming out of the side door of my garage and also that there was poop on her lawn. We received citations from animal control for caring for the cats. To make the neighbor happy, we paid $5,000 to extend our white vinyl privacy fence to include the side door of the garage so that any cat that came for shelter in inclement weather would not be able to walk over to the neighbor’s yard. We had talked with animal control during this time who said they would take kittens from us if we had any hiding in the yard. We happily gave them kittens and found out some had died and others had been euthanized. I had already cared for kittens myself and knew what needed to be done for them, which was washing them with Dawn detergent to rid them of fleas and de-worming them. They said they had applied chemical flea killer to those kittens which were under 6 weeks which will make them gravely ill. This is when I found out that Schererville Animal Control is not a no-kill shelter. When we went into court for the citations, they had the judge order us to reimburse them for euthanizing of the kittens, as well as pay additional fines. One thing that stood out in my memory was Officer Jan Kalinowski complaining how upset she was that when she came to the door that we didn’t answer it. We explained to the judge that our house is very large and we don’t always hear the door. I didn’t know at the time, but this complaint would be relevant later. At that same court date, the judge ordered us to make our yard “cat unfriendly” and not provide them with food or shelter.
Around the same time, Animal Control received a complaint from a police officer who lived on the other side of us that there was cat poop on his lawn. He has since divorced and moved away. Subsequently, Officer Jan Kalinowski showed up at my door while I was having flooring and other work done inside my home and asked to enter my home and I told her it wasn’t a good time. She then contacted her supervisor who arrived and demanded I let him enter my house. When I told him no he said “Well then I am going to have to write you a citation for having your trash cans in front of your house.” Ironically, that morning was trash pick-up and my cans had not yet been moved into the yard. I then got my teen son to help me bring the cans behind the gate out of view, where they are always stored. I went into the house and closed the door and then received 14 violations from Animal Control in the mail not long thereafter.
I did not attend that court date because I was ill, but my husband did and he found that animal control had gone to all the local veterinarians and asked for a list of any and all animals we have had treated at their offices. We had found wonderful private rescues who have taught us how to trap, gave us names of vets where we can spay/neuter at a very low cost, and we were doing it as fast as we could trap them. Animal control, by finding the time to visit our veterinarians and local spay/neuter locations, has shown this isn’t a code enforcement violation, this is them fishing for things to ticket us for. My husband tried to explain to the judge that we were TNRing (trap-neuter-releasing) the cats and this is the only way to control the population. Killing them is not the answer, which is what animal control’s method is for ferals and strays, and starving them is inhumane. The judge said he would let us know our fine and we then received a letter from Judge Anderson indicating that our fine was over $2000.
On July 22, 2015, exactly one day after we paid our fine for the previous citations, Schererville Animal Control crossed the line with my civil rights. They showed up at my door while I was taking a bath. I didn't answer, not only because I was in the bathtub, but because I didn't hear them. When I got out of the bathtub, I saw my husband had called and left a message so I returned his call. He told me that the police called him on his cell phone to ask him if I was okay because the door was open but I wasn't answering the door. My security storm door was locked, but my main door was a few inches open. He told them I was probably asleep. I decided to check the security system video and saw that at 2:06 p.m. Schererville Animal Control employees Jan Kalinowski and Angela Malinowski arrived at the door and when I didn’t answer left at 2:10 p.m. At 2:26 p.m., both Kalinowski and Malinowski returned with two Schererville Police Officers. One officer disappears off the video from the porch and enters the latched gate to my yard, goes around to my back sun room and enters that unlocked door to my house and is shown at 2:29 p.m. exiting my front storm door which had to be unlocked from the inside. He then re-enters my house for another minute before finally exiting and they all leave. He left my storm door unlocked when they all left. There was no business card left, no message on the answering machine from them to tell me they were here, and I wouldn’t have even known they were in my house unless I viewed the security video. There was no reason for animal control to contact the police and or be worried about my safety or well-being. The storm door was adequately locked. I was soaking in my bathtub with my bathroom door open on the second level of my house. My 18 year old son was asleep in his room upstairs. I own a firearm and if I had heard an intruder I would have shot them. I had a radio on in the bathroom and I can only assume he came up the stairs and saw I was alive in the tub or why would he have exited my house? Then I remembered that Jan Kalinowski complained previously that we don’t answer the door when we are home. There is no law stating that I have to answer my door when someone rings my doorbell. Clearly they are strong-arming me and showing they will enter my house whenever they want, and this is a personal issue with me and this has nothing to do with well-being of the outdoor colony.
I went to the police station that evening to file a report with my husband. The officer in charge of taking the report said he couldn’t find anything in the system about them being in the house or even being at the house and was going to check and get back to us later that evening. He did get back to us later and told us that the officer who entered the house was in training and was not aware of the protocol. I am pretty sure that every single officer everywhere knows the protocol about entering someone’s home, especially when the door was locked and they had spoken to my husband who told them I was probably asleep. I asked him if the officer saw me in the tub and he said he didn’t. After we talked to that officer, I thought about it and it didn’t make any sense. Why rush to enter my house and then leave if he didn’t know if I was okay? He came into the house before they even called my husband. Also they talked to my neighbor next door who said my door is always cracked open like that. So the officer didn’t even wait 3 minutes until they talked with my husband or my neighbor to illegally enter my yard and my home? Who was this officer and what lie did animal control tell him that he would risk being shot by entering someone’s home without permission? The officer who took my report also said animal control wanted us to call them, which we did later that night after we heard the lie for them illegally entering my home. My husband called and spoke on the phone with Angela Malinowski of animal control. He explained to her we are nearing the last couple cats being TNR’d and have found rescues to take any kittens after they were spayed/neutered and received their vaccinations. She said animal control wanted to work with us and then she and my husband agreed that we would check in with them monthly with a status and also told them we are looking for a new home outside of Schererville and will re-trap the ear-tipped cats and relocate them to our new property. That was on July 22nd.
On August 5th, a week and a half later, animal control employees Kalinowski and Malinowski were at my front door. I told them we were almost done with TNR and told them how upset I was about the police coming into my home. I told them we were looking for a new home and would relocate the colony. A week later we received four more citations in the mail, with a first court hearing date of September 8th, 2015. They said they want to support what we are doing but issued four more fines less than a week after they say that. They tried to tell me at the door that they had nothing to do with the police going into the house, but in the video they are seen standing laughing on the porch with the police. They know we sometimes don’t answer the door. They said so in court. When someone doesn't answer the door, it doesn't give them the right to illegally enter my home when my door was locked. It isn't against the law to not answer your door.
On Tuesday, September 8th, 2015, the town court, specifically Judge Kenneth Anderson, wanted Schererville Animal Control to come to my house in two days to take them all, but they said they didn't have room yet. They are not a no-kill shelter. They have fined us over $4,000 in the last year and a half and I have worked tirelessly to TNR these cats and get them vaccinated and ear-tipped and have saved their lives. This town is on a mission to take these poor animals and kill them because a couple of my neighbors hate cats. One neighbor who complained in court said he is old and retired and unable to deal with a cat poop issue. He also has a large dog that poops on his own lawn and is frequently out without a leash, rides his Harley and his ATV, and hand-built a deck and a shed this summer which just shows he exaggerated his physical condition to make him look like a victim. Another neighbor who complained locked his dog in the garage for 5 years at night and then weekly washed the urine and feces down our public sewer system. The last person to complain has a house behind him that has dogs and he said he can smell cat poop in his yard, but he has a closed tall privacy fence and is most likely smelling the poop from the house behind him in St. John Indiana. He left a large pile of mulch on his driveway for over a month and the cats were drawn to it and they did poop on it once and he threw the poop onto my sidewalk. They are not credible witnesses, but that doesn't matter when Animal Control goes on a witch hunt. I am completely willing and ready to leave this town after 18 years to save these animals. These cats cannot be adopted out because they are not social lap cats and need to stay with their colony in a safe, protected space. They have not had to hunt for food because I am providing it for them. They will not do well in a barn situation where they have to hunt to eat.
As the police already illegally entered my home last month while I was taking a bath, I am living in fear that they will do it again. My health is failing and my auto-immune disease has flared up because of them causing me so much stress worrying that I won't close on a new home before they do some swat team maneuver and harm these precious souls. They are killing me in the process too. Please visit Alley Cat Allies and do research and support Trap-Neuter-Release. It is the only way to control overpopulation. And, please, tell Schererville Animal Control to just give me time to leave and save these precious souls. I will be out of this heartless town before Halloween.
Schererville needs to get on board with methods that are caring toward these animals and support responsible caretakers and rescuers, not come confiscate the animals.
Animal rights advocates have already offered to contact the local newspaper for me, urged me to immediately start petitions, and have also offered to picket my court dates. I know that the veterinarian who runs the Neuter-Scooter has already written Judge Anderson because she was completely outraged to find out how much we have already paid in fines for doing right by these precious animals. She travels all around the country doing Spay/Neuter at reduced cost and knows that TNR programs work.
Last summer I also spoke with Lake County Animal Control about their TNR program. They fully support TNR and said they will not even come to pick up a feral or stray because it is a death sentence. There are other towns in Lake County who also support TNR and do not fine caretakers for offering food and shelter to their ear-tipped feline friends. In 2007 Cook County, Illinois, they passed legislation for TNRing and it has proven it is working. Indianapolis has the most wonderful TNR program I have heard of so far, through FACE Spay/Neuter and IndyFeral. They have trained many counties in Indiana and understand this is the only way to handle community cat situations.
I have already paid over $4200.00 worth of fines, have been bullied by Animal Control, they have caused financial stress on my family, and incredible negative affects on my health. Feral cats are not dangerous to people. They hide during the day and only show up at dusk. Anyone who says they are dangerous has not taken the time to do their research or get training. There are other feral colony caretakers in Schererville that I have met through an underground rescuer network. I wish I had connected to them early on so I could have kept my own colony to a few. I have learned so much from these wonderful people, and they have learned the hard way, like I have, that not everyone cares about all animals, especially animal control.
At this point I don’t have more than 10 cats which come and go. I have worked tirelessly to make the rest of the adults at least semi-social so that I can get near enough to them to apply flea treatments. They are spayed/neutered, have their ears tipped and they have their rabies shots.
I NEED EVERYONE'S HELP TO SIGN THIS PETITION AND CONTACT SCHERERVILLE ANIMAL CONTROL. THEY HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE. ASK THEM TO LEAVE ME ALONE AND LET ME TAKE MY COLONY AND LEAVE THIS TOWN.
I made an offer yesterday on a new home with acreage and in a TNR friendly town, but it will take up to six weeks to close and I just don't want to have to worry that they are going to show up and again enter illegally. I can barely eat or sleep because they can't be trusted.
Please, please help us stop this insanity.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on September 11, 2015