Tracy Landis of S.C.A.R.S. Pit Bull Rescue is shown here with Vader, one of two feral dogs she rescued from a woods near Pierceton in February. (Photo by Stacey Page)

The attorney representing a local pit bull rescue has told his client to move forward with her plans to build kennels on her agriculturally zoned property despite a local ruling denying her a permit.

Fort Wayne animal rights attorney Cody Williams has been working with Tracy Landis of S.C.A.R.S. Pit Bull Rescue since the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals denied her the right to build kennels and operate her pit bull rescue at her property in rural Warsaw. Williams said Indiana law is on his client’s side.

Williams said the BZA tried to label the rescue as a kennel and a home-based business when, on June 11, the board flatly denied her petition to build kennels on her property. Landis made it clear that she limits the number of dogs she takes in for rescue to less than 20, and also told the board during the June hearing that the rescue is not open to the public.

Williams told StaceyPageOnline.com, “The county hasn’t defined what a kennel is so state law must come into play and state law does not place a rescue under a kennel.”

The county BZA denied a special exception to S.C.A.R.S. Pit Bull Rescue saying they acted on overwhelming public opinion. Landis petitioned to build kennels on her agriculturally zoned property on CR 100 South, Warsaw. Under county guidelines, kennels are allowed as a special exception in an agricultural district.

According to Williams, as defined by Indiana law, an animal rescue operation, like S.C.A.R.S. Pit Bull Rescue, does not fall under a kennel operation and therefore may not even require BZA approval. “This is relevant because the exception that Tracy originally applied for was for an animal kennel, which Kosciusko County does not define other than saying it is to be given its normal everyday meaning.”

When the county does not specifically define something, such as a dog kennel or even a commercial breeding operation, the state definition is used. According to Williams, “I
thoroughly looked at the Kosciusko County ordinance and the county does not define a kennel or rescue.

“When the Indiana legislature defined dog kennel and/or commercial breeder they obviously had no intent to encompass nonprofit animal rescues in the meaning,” Williams added. “They clearly exempt animal rescue groups under Indiana’s commercial breeder laws … It is my interpretation that the everyday meaning only encompasses commercial or corporate money making ventures.”

S.C.A.R.S. Pit Bull Rescue is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization. As such, Indiana Code defines a rescue as an operation that accepts 12 or more dogs within a one year period that are available for adoption as pets or companion animals. Since 2010, Landis has operated the rescue from her private home in Claypool and has rescued and/or re-homed 165 dogs.

See related:
BZA Vote Challenged By Dog Rescue
Attorney: BZA Ruling Against Rescue Is ‘Injustice’
Animal Rescues Exempt Under Indiana Law