This past weekend, humane leaders from across Indiana and the U.S. gathered for a rare opportunity to learn the proven life-saving principles for profound reform in animal sheltering (Cover, “Saving the Strays,” April 16-22). Perhaps as powerful and poignant as the message by Nathan Winograd, the highly respected architect of shelter reform, was the total absence of representatives of Humane Society of Indianapolis at any time during the two-day conference.

By now you must be painfully aware that HSI’s reputation within the animal welfare community, and the community at-large has suffered under the current leadership. Decisions and policies have all the appearance of slick packaging and self-promotion, and seemingly no qualities that enhance the quality of life of animals within the community, or even within the HSI facility itself. By all standards, killing a healthy animal, or causing it to be killed at another facility, doesn’t enhance the quality of an animal’s life.

The life-saving programs used in these reformed shelters have a solid track record in communities large and small. The public (i.e. taxpayers, donors and volunteers) support and embrace organizations that commit to saving lives, rather than making excuses for continuing decades of destruction of healthy animals. The time is quickly drawing to a close when the public will even tolerate such practices. HSI is in a unique position to be a leader in moving Indianapolis forward as a visionary organization, or to become a sad example of organizations that continue to cling to obsolete notions because their leader has no genuine commitment to saving lives.

Please consider the information available at www.nokilladvocacycenter.org and the local site www.indynokill.org, and consider the possibilities of choosing a leader that will make HSI a respected, life-saving organization.