INDIANAPOLIS — A puppy has a new, loving home following a Call 6 investigation into the city’s animal overpopulation problem.
Bolt, a husky mix, was featured in an RTV6 story about Indianapolis Animal Care Services’ increased reliance on foster homes.
Bolt came to the city shelter on June 26 among a huge litter of puppies with parvo, a highly-contagious virus.
He has been living with his foster mother, Sarah Magee, since then.
Following our story, a couple named Chuck and Mary from Indianapolis decided to adopt Bolt.
“I’ve always had dogs in my life and we lost our last family dog about two years ago, and we thought the timing was right to get a new dog,” said Mary. “We looked at several different adoption sites. I was mostly looking for a dog that would be good at agile training as that’s a big interest of mine.”
Mary said Bolt is doing well in his new home and is a nice addition to their family.
As the city looks to save more animals and decrease the number of euthanized dogs and cats, Indianapolis Animal Care Services has become more dependent on fosters than in years’ past.
Read more about the city's animal overpopulation issue.
Currently, the city has 1,249 animals in their care including 639 with foster families and 610 at the shelter.
Compare that to 2013, when just 774 animals were in IACS’ care including 220 fosters and 554 at the shelter.
In the past, the city would have likely euthanized Bolt and other parvo-infected animals.
However, this is the first year the city is making a big effort to save dogs and cats with parvo by placing them in foster homes.
The city shelter takes in 14,000 animals a year and is busting at the seams nearly every single day.
Indianapolis Animal Care Services has 10 percent more animals inside the facility than it did five years ago.
You can start the process of adopting here:
