My name is Gano!

Please visit our website for more details on our adoption policy and pricing.

The adoption fee listed on this animal does not show the discounted price for Rush County Residents, Military, or Senior Citizen.

All adoptions are first come, first serve. We do not offer holds.

You are welcome to bring your dog(s) with you for a meet and greet! No appointment needed and staff will assist in the introduction.

We are a tax-funded (municipal) animal shelter located in Rushville, Indiana. We provide full-service animal control within the city limits of Rushville and limited animal control service for those who live outside the city, but within Rush County. We do not turn away or charge a fee to surrender to our shelter. We only require that you are a Rush County resident and have a photo ID showing your address is within Rush County.

We are not NO KILL, we identify as LOW KILL. Which means we do not euthanize for time or space, but will for behavior or medical care beyond our means. We do not have a time limit; as long as an animal is happy and healthy, they are welcome to stay with us for as long as they need. We work with a large network of private rescues for animals that need more than we can provide. We are not a private organization, such as a Humane Society. We are a public service; we will be limited on what we can do regarding behavior or medical needs for animals. We do operate under a philosophy of 5 Freedoms. If we are unable to provide care to meet those 5 freedoms or find a rescue in a timely manner to take over care, we will euthanize so the animal does not suffer.

Our budget is determined by the City of Rushville City Council. We are required to operate within that budget to provide our core services. Anything we do outside those core services is limited to monetary or item donations. We rely heavily on our community for support, so we may do a little more.

OUR SHELTER PHILOSOPHY, PURPOSE, AND PRACTICE

Our Shelter Philosophy

Our Shelter’s Philosophy is to provide animals with a quality life while in our care. We apply the Five Freedoms principle to assess whether quality of life is being met.

Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom from discomfort
Freedom from pain, injury, or disease
Freedom to express normal behavior
Freedom from fear and distress

We must answer “yes” to all five freedoms for each animal in order to determine if we are performing our duty of care for a quality of life while in a shelter environment. If we answer “no” to any of these freedoms, we must evaluate the animal’s individual situation and determine whether there is anything reasonable within our available resources to change the answer to “yes”. If we cannot reasonably provide all five freedoms, we must consider euthanasia as the best option for that animal.

Our Purpose

We are a public animal shelter primarily funded by tax dollars. Our duty is to serve our county residents
We do not turn any animal belonging to or found by a county resident no matter how much space is available, how much money is available, or the reason for surrender

We are compassionate and understanding; we do not openly judge those who are unable to or unwilling to meet the gold standards of animal care and responsibility deemed by those who have unlimited resources. Instead, we offer education and resources to help pet owners meet at least the basic needs and responsibilities of their pets.
Refer to the above Five Freedoms for guidance
When we can’t offer a service or solution, we do our best to help by identifying an option that may be helpful

Our Practice

We approach each potential adoption with an open mind and instead focus on informing and educating adopters. We may say no if we feel the shelter animal or another animal, or human being is at unreasonable risk of serious injury or death