Earlier this year Pet Friendly Services of Indiana announced the winners of its inaugural Pet Friendly Community Choice Awards, recognizing the shelters, rescues, and community cat organizations that earned overwhelming support from communities across the state. Tens of thousands of votes were cast during the three-week public voting period, highlighting the incredible dedication of Indiana residents to the organizations working every day to improve the lives of animals. Winners received support their efforts ranging from $700 to $3,000.
There is no animal control officer for Dubois County, northeast of Evansville, so the duty of stray pickup for dogs falls to local law enforcement. “We have a good relationship with them and with county officials,” said Jordan Wehr, executive director of Dubois County Humane Society (DCHS).
The city of Jasper, where the society is based, handles stray holds through a network of veterinary offices, Wehr explained. “We’ve made significant progress from dogs regularly being euthanized at the end of the stray hold to having them placed into a network of fosters and rescues. In the last five years no dog has been euthanized for space.”
DCHS, founded in 1974, was among the winners this year in the large-shelter category. It is a private facility supported by donors and grants; it gets no money from the city.
Wehr is an advocate for every county to have a trained animal control officer (ACO). Wehr noted that outcomes are better for communities and for animals in jurisdictions with an ACO, and stressed that the oft-cited reason for not having one, cost, is false economy. The expense of having law enforcement and other local officials handle the duties is almost always higher than having dedicated personnel. It’s just that those costs are hidden.
In 2023 DCHS started its own spay/neuter clinic for dogs and cats, and has performed more than 6,000 surgeries. Services are provided for all animals, ones that have homes as well as those at DCHS and other shelters and rescues.
“Our shelter is off our main highway, next to the Public Works Department,” said Wehr. “Our spay/neuter clinic is next to the only human hospital in the city. Neither is exactly on the downtown square, but are only a few minutes away. Another non-profit owns the clinic but once the mortgage is paid off in about 18 months, it will come over to us.”
Noting the growing national trend of bringing animal and human services together, Wehr said that DCHS has worked unofficially with women’s and children’s shelters in the area. Many shelters for people won’t take companion animals, and it is as sad fact, well documented, that some women stay in abusive relationships because they won’t abandon their pets.
DCHS has 17 kennels for dogs, and can safely accommodate about 40 cats. It can’t take animals for people in shelters, but the society does work with boarding facilities and foster services to arrange temporary care for companion animals while their people get to safety and support.
Wehr took the helm as executive director in November 2025, and before that was president of the board for five years. She has been with the organization more than 15 years in total. She has a master’s degree in occupational therapy and before working full time DCHS was a therapist in long-term care.
“We are exciting about winning the award, but we are even more exited to have additional funds to expand our spay and neuter programs,” said Wehr.
Meow Mission was among the winners in the Community Cat care category. It was founded in 2011 and has focused on trap, neuter, and return. “I stress return, not just release,” said Jodi Aker, founder and president, “because it is important to return the cats to the place where they were trapped. They are bonded to those places and to the other cats in the colony.” The service area is focused on South Bend and Mishawaka, but extends around northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan.
“I was inspired to start Meow Mission as a volunteer at a shelter,” recalled Aker, whose regular job is as an insurance coordinator for a dialysis center. “The animals would just keep coming in. I realized that rescue alone was just not going to do it. You can only save so many. What happens to the rest? The only answer is to reduce the population, so I decided to focus on that.” Meow Mission has treated at least 14,000 cats since inception, about 1,300 to 1,400 a year.
It works directly with the people in communities that support the cat colonies. The caretakers set the traps, which are then brought to the S.N.I.P. Clinic at Meow Mission’s facility, or to another clinic. The cats get the procedure, and an overall health check, and stay overnight. Depending on the size of the colony and other variables, anywhere from 10 to 35 cats can be treated each weekend.
The mission has its own building, which it is in the process of buying. It operates out of one suite and rents out the other to pay the mortgage. “We are in the center of South Bend, in the River Park area, so very central,” said Aker. “We wanted to be in the middle of town, that is where you get attention and that is where you get volunteers.”
Mercy Rescue Adoption, founded in 2005, is among the winners in the All-Volunteer category. “We have a small shelter in North Vernon,” said Anne Poole, director. “My husband and I built it. We were running a foster base out of our home in town when my father bought some land in the country. Friends donated some money for materials, but we did all the labor.”
Mercy can handle 10 dogs and almost as many cats. “I focus on senior animals,” said Poole. “So we’re sort of a sanctuary, but we spend a lot of time and effort on spay and neuter for public animals. That is where the funds from the award will go.”
Not just services but education as well, she added. “It is so important for people to understand that spay/neuter is a necessity. It’s easy to get angry at the situation of unwanted animals but what’s important is that we always choose kindness. Kindness to each other and kindness to the animals.”