Fishers, IN Animal Ordinances: Animal Hoarding (2026)

City of Fishers Code § 91.02 defines 'animal hoarding' as (1) collecting animals and failing to provide them adequate shelter and care; (2) collecting dead animals that are not properly disposed of; and/or (3) collecting, housing, or harboring animals in filthy, insanitary conditions that constitute a health hazard to the animals, to people living at the property, or to neighboring animals or residents. Conduct meeting this definition is reached chiefly through § 91.11, which prohibits animal neglect - owning or confining an animal and failing to supply adequate shelter, food, water, space, or veterinary care as those terms are defined in the chapter. Section 91.03 separately requires sanitary, healthy conditions and bars confining animals so they must stand or lie in their own excrement, and § 91.02's 'unsanitary conditions' definition catalogs the filth, parasites, and hazards typical of hoarding situations. Any Animal Control Officer or other officer empowered by law may impound animals found to be victims of neglect under § 91.11(D). On a finding of violation, § 91.11(H) authorizes the court to order other owned pets seized and relinquished to the Humane Society for Hamilton County, to bar future pet ownership in the city, to order counseling, or to order restitution. Severe cases may also constitute criminal animal cruelty or neglect under Indiana Code, which the city code expressly incorporates and which the courts may pursue alongside the ordinance.