Though student pet abandonment is still a major problem on campus, local animal shelter workers say the rate has gone down thanks to new microchip procedures.
"Usually the rate of abandoned pets found on or near campus shoots up in the month of May," Melissa Jones, small animal care attendant with the Muncie Animal Shelter, said.
Jones said students often could not take care of their pets anymore, for various reasons such as money or moving somewhere they could not take pets. They will let them loose in the street or leave them in their rental for others to find, she said.
Landlords who rent to Ball State University students often find abandoned animals in their rental property after a semester ends, Jones said. Normally they find cats still left on a property, while dogs are found roaming.
"It is a city ordinance now that all animals adopted out from the city shelter are microchipped," Julie Smith, of the Muncie Animal Shelter, said. "So if they are abandoned, we can track them back to who owned them. Students know the animal has a microchip and we can find them. They have to leave an alternate contact number, usually their mom's or dad's, and they can be prosecuted for abandonment."
The shelter has raised its adoption fees, which may also attribute to the increase in student responsibility, Smith said.
"We have a lot of Ball State students who come in and adopt, and we appreciate that," Smith said.
Jones said a large portion of the shelter's business, whether adoption or surrender, came from Ball State students. She said she suspected this was because it was the first time many people lived on their own and would like to own their own pet.
Jones also attributes the lowered homeless animal rate to the shelter's mandatory spay/neuter program. While this procedure has been in place for several years, the results are now catching up, Jones said.
Smith said last February a cat was found on the Ball State campus that had been doused in gasoline and then set on fire. The cat was still alive when it was rescued; however, it had to be euthanized, Smith said. Shelter workers believed the incident was part of a fraternity hazing ritual, but they do not have proof, she said.
Another incident happened about three years ago during a winter blizzard when students set a 10-inch female iguana in the snow, Smith said. A staff vet technician rescued the iguana. She is now about 4-feet-long and lives with the technician who rescued her.
"Most Ball State students are very responsible," Smith said. "If they find a kitten outside their dorm they call right away. They are very upset and want to see the situation righted. If they see a duck that has been hit and is injured, they want to see us out there right away. So we find a lot of Ball State students that are extremely caring and loving.
"However, often times when [students] adopt they don't realize the responsibility involved. Often times they are living in apartments and adopt something that is larger than they think it is going to be."
Smith said the shelter often saw a return of pets that were adopted from the shelter after students who adopted them graduated.
Workers at the SPCA, however, do not recall dealing with student pet abandonment.
"I have been really impressed with Ball State students," said Kim Antrim, who has been the director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Muncie chapter for the past two years. "I have never seen an incident of abandonment like that before. This is not to say it doesn't occur; it is just generally the city shelter who is the first to hear about it."
The SPCA currently has 14 dogs and a litter of nine puppies. The owner's neighbors poisoned the puppies' mother and two other littermates.
"Ball State students need to realize that adopting a pet is a major life change that involves a lot of responsibility," Lee McIntire, executive assistant for the Animal Rescue Fund in Muncie, said.
McIntire said students sometimes could not keep their pets and gave them away to others. This is against the shelter's policies.
McIntire is a 20-year-old biology student at Ball State. He has been working for ARF for four years since he began to volunteer as a high school student. McIntire plans to go to Purdue University's veterinary school after graduating from Ball State.
There is a much more rigorous adoption process at ARF than from the Muncie Animal Shelter or the SPCA Muncie chapter.
College students receive literature to make sure they are thinking through their decision and offering them an alternative to adopting. McIntire said most of the volunteers were Ball State students. Because there are not nearly as many students in Muncie during the summer, there are not many volunteers at ARF in the summer either.
"I would love to see the university have some sort of class, not just about how to take care of pets but also children and any other lifetime commitments," ARF founder Terri Panszi said. "We are the voice of the animals."
Panszi said ARF had seen everything from sexually abused animals to ones that have been set on fire. She said the abandonment issue was a huge problem coming from Ball State students.
"We encourage students to make sure it is a family decision," Panszi said.
"Muncie has had its fair share of difficulties within the animal care and control arena," Panszi said. "We are behind, and sadly it isn't priority."
Panszi said owners often surrender their pets, meaning give them up because they decide they don't want to or can't have them anymore, because they say they "just got too big" or "they won't housebreak." She said the former issue was one that should have been anticipated before, while the latter was something that needed to be consistently worked on by the owner.
"They don't just stay puppies and kittens," Panszi said. "It is a lifetime commitment, and sadly some don't live up to their end of the deal."
ARF has had to prosecute students in the past for abandoning a dog that eventually starved to death in the house, Panszi said. The dog had been trying to drink from the toilet and eating cigarette butts to stay alive.
"In my work I cry everyday," Panszi said. "It is sad to hear these stories, but it is even worse to continue to let them happen."
Another problem area shelters see is dog fighting, generally with pit bulldogs.
Jones said unlike pet abandonment, this was not a problem specifically tied to Ball State; however, it is a major problem for Muncie, she said.
ARF Assistant Director Dana Salkoski said she agreed pit bull fighting was a major issue in Muncie.
"Dogs come to us with their faces ripped off because they have been used as a bate dog," Salkoski said. "They have their muzzles taped shut so they cannot defend themselves against pit bulls who are forced to fight them."
Salkoski said pit bulls were often stolen from people to be brought into the world of dog fighting.
ARF is a refuge for animals that have been surrendered by their owners who are not able to take care of them any longer, animals who have been rescued from euthanasia from other shelters, as well as animals who are considered permanent residents. The shelter does not generally take stray animals if they can help it but will help to place them in a shelter that does. These are generally animals with long-term health or behavioral issues or feral cats that need a place to live. ARF is a no-kill shelter operated mainly on grants, personal and commercial, as well as on their dog park profits. ARF also offers free dog and cat food to owners who cannot afford it.
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