Humane Society of Hobart Inc. wants to ensure Lake Station Police are adequately trained as animal control officers and capable of investigating animal cruelty and neglect cases in the wake of a July 2023 incident where 9 dogs ultimately died of heat-related injuries.
Humane Society of Hobart Inc. announced Thursday that it had terminated its contract for animal shelter management and impound services with the city of Lake Station. The shelter has given the city 60 days to negotiate before it’ll enforce the cancellation, HSH Executive Director Jennifer Webber said.
Webber said HSH cancelled the contract for a number of reasons, including the city’s failure to employ and adequately train officers to serve in the capacity of animal control officers; to investigate animal cruelty and neglect cases and provide safe and humane containment of animals at large; to transport canines and felines for intake during the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and to keep detailed records on scope of services. As a result, HSH has dealt with disease outbreaks and mishandling of animals, which she said Lake Station Mayor Bill Carroll is investigating.
Webber said she recognizes that animal control is “fractured” nationally, but she remains hopeful that HSH and the city will be able to hammer something out before the 60 days is up. The city, however, will need to enforce its end.
“We’ve had some gaps in communication and training, and it needs to be strengthened. I hope this can be an opportunity for Lake Station to do what’s right,” she said. “There has to be a set of criteria that’s enforced, so if (municipalities) aren’t prioritizing them, it gets sketchy. We hope that a new contract will strengthen our lines of communication, build a better working relationship, produce National Animal Control Certified officers, and fill in the gaps we currently have that have failed pets and pet families.”
In 2024, HSH took in a total of 1,465 animals from 29 different municipalities, including 16 animals from Chicago and two from Chicago Heights, Illinois, according to an HSH intake report ran from January 1 to December 27. Most of the animals came from Hobart, with 647 unique animals, or those which had been brought to HSH once; and Lake Station with 406 unique animals, but Gary had 91 animals and Merrillville 69, according to the report.
Webber said she knows Carroll wants to help, and other municipalities such as Gary and Crown Point are making it a point to prioritize animal field services and shelters. Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun has also turned over that city’s funding to HSH for animal field services, she said, so there is some hope that the situation might be changing.
If HSH and Lake Station don’t come to an agreement, however, HSH will still provide services, but they will be scaled back.
“We have the chance in collaboration to create the best programs and services that help people, pet families, and advocate for homeless pets. This begins by rebuilding our trust and re-establishing our commitment to our working relationship,” she said. “If the contract does not renew, we will continue to provide resources to the citizens of Lake Station through our community clinics and pet supply pantry. If we have space in our kennel areas, we will accept public drop off of stray pets from Lake Station residents and ask for a donation upon intake.”
The impasse stems from how a July 2023 incident — where 18 dogs were being transported in an unairconditioned box truck to a Michigan City training facility from O’Hare International Airport and 9 ultimately died — was handled. The truck’s driver stopped on Ripley Street in Lake Station after the dogs’ barking alerted him to their distress and he alerted authorities after discovering that the animals were showing signs of heat-related illness.
According to the police department, the air conditioning unit failed, causing temperatures in the cargo area to climb steeply until they reached deadly levels. It was, the statement claimed, “not an act of animal cruelty or neglect.” But more than a year later — after an extensive investigation by the Indiana State Police and the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office — Michael McHenry, 55, from Michigan City, the owner of the dogs, and the truck driver Jessee Urbaszewski, 44, were charged with 18 counts of neglect of a vertebrate animal. Both Urbaszewski and McHenry have a change of plea hearing scheduled for Feb. 27.
McHenry is the owner and lead trainer at FM K9, a Michigan-based company that supplies trained police dogs to law enforcement. The company’s website notes that McHenry has “over 25 years in the canine field and industry” and “10 years as a shift commander/supervisor in Law Enforcement.”
The truck had an IcyBreeze, a portable air conditioning unit, but police said that the unit couldn’t have cooled the box truck to an acceptable temperature for the dogs.
When Webber arrived, she said, she asked McHenry for health certificates which establish temperatures safe for transporting the animals, and vaccination records among other documents. This, she said, was consistent with the Humane Society’s standard procedures.
When McHenry did not provide the documents, she announced her intention to seize the surviving dogs under the authority granted to her organization by Lake Station ordinances, which allow the Humane Society to impound an animal “that is reasonably believed to have been abused or neglected,” and “dogs without current license tags.” She planned to transport them to a veterinary hospital to receive emergency care, after which the Humane Society would conduct an investigation and return the animals after compliance was proved and any fines and fees were paid.
McHenry objected and refused to allow the Humane Society to transport the dogs, and police on the scene took McHenry’s side.
Though the Humane Society had air-conditioned vehicles on the scene already, the animals were transported to two local animal hospitals by emergency medical personnel that arrived later, Webber previously told the Post-Tribune. Six of the animals that were alive when authorities arrived were later euthanized due to untreatable heat-related injuries.
Delaying the transportation of the dogs, Webber said, could have caused unnecessary deaths.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
