Animal welfare volunteers deride the arrest of former Warrick Animal Control supervisor

EVANSVILLE — Animal welfare volunteers are rallying around arrested former Warrick County Animal Control Supervisor Danielle Barnes, calling the charges a gross overreaction and Barnes precisely the kind of person who should be leading the agency.

Indiana State Police searched Barnes' home in Chandler on Wednesday and later booked her into the Warrick County jail on Level 6 felony charges of theft and possession of a legend drug.

A state police detective outlined the basis for Barnes' arrest in an affidavit of probable cause, alleging she pilfered kitten vaccines and animal microchips from the Warrick County Animal Control Department, where, for years, she led efforts to battle cat overpopulation.

Barnes posted a $750 cash bond on Thursday, securing her release from the Warrick County jail.

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If Barnes' past actions are any guide, said veteran animal welfare activist Colette Purcell, the vaccines and microchips in her house were likely purchased with funds raised by Warrick Animal Guardians, the small nonprofit rescue group Barnes founded in 2012. And Barnes likely was using them to help animals who came into her orbit.

Barnes' arrest affidavit doesn't explain how state investigators linked the specific vaccine vials allegedly recovered from Barnes' home to missing vials belonging to Warrick County Animal Control or how detectives traced the microchips to the agency's stocks.

Like other animal welfare activists, Purcell hooted in derision at the arrest affidavit's assertions that kitten vaccine vials allegedly recovered from Barnes' home were "only available by prescription" and that "possession of this item was prohibited."

"It’s not drugs; those are cat vaccines," said Purcell, who has volunteered and fostered for several area rescue organizations in Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. "You can buy that (stuff) at Rural King and Tractor Supply. I used to have vaccinations at my house, because I’d have more than one cat that I was bringing in."

Purcell said Barnes for years poured "her guts and blood and tears" into pumping money raised by the nonprofit Warrick Animal Guardians into chronically underfunded Warrick County Animal Control operations.

Not to enrich herself, Purcell said, but to make vaccinations and microchipping available to more animals.

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It's the kind of dedication to a public agency's mission that Warrick County Animal Control should have thanked its lucky stars for, said Purcell, who noted that Barnes was instead removed from her leadership role there earlier this year.

"I have pictures of the old, (expletive) hole (animal control building)," she said. "(Barnes) helped raise the money, her and the nonprofits, to get cat cages in the new building. She got businesses to volunteer to help get the property going.

"This was all free stuff because the county wouldn’t budget anything extra for supplies. Warrick Animal Guardians helped supply food, dog and cat, and litter, cleaning supplies."

Warrick Animal Guardians states on its Facebook page that its mission is "to reduce the euthanasia at (Warrick County Animal Control)."

'Everything Danielle Barnes has ever said to me has been truth'

Tammy Jones, who has volunteered for Evansville-based nonprofit trap, neuter and return organization Feline Fix and Another Chance for Animals, recalled Barnes' reaction when an American Eskimo dog found its way into Warrick County Animal Control.

"She remembered from (Purcell) that (Purcell) had a friend who had American Eskimos — me," Jones said. "And Danielle reached out to me, that if I was interested in a dog that came into their control — and I did adopt him.

"What other animal control officer would go to that extent for one dog adoption?"

Jones said the Barnes arrest affidavit's claim that kitten vaccine vials allegedly recovered from Barnes' home were "only available by prescription" was a head-scratcher to her.

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"I was very confused because I’m like, you don’t need a prescription to get those medicines," she said.

Purcell said when she was volunteering for Feline Fix in Warrick County, Barnes thought to call her whenever a cat with tipped ears — a mark that the cat had been trapped, spay/neutered and released — came into animal control. People who didn't want cats around would trap them and turn them in as strays, Purcell said.

"She would say, 'Can you find another place to relocate them?'" Purcell said. "She’d even hold them. I’d say, ‘Can you give me a day or two?’ ‘Yeah. We have a little bit of room, I can do that.’

"Everything Danielle Barnes has ever said to me has been truth. I have seen her cry. I have seen her bust her ass. I’ve seen her give up her time, because Warrick Animal Guardians, they’d have these fosters and they would take animals to events to get them adopted. She didn’t get paid for that."

A bureaucratic mindset

Other local animal welfare activists also have spoken out on Barnes' behalf.

Evansville City Councilwoman Missy Mosby, the council's longtime liaison to Evansville Animal Care and Control and founder of rescue group Buddy's Promise — Furever Home, said Barnes "truly turned Warrick Animal Control around."

"Danielle loves animals," Mosby said. "I don't think she would have done anything for personal gain. It would have been to help animals."

Jamie Taylor, founder of Feline Fix, echoed comments the nonprofit, no-kill animal rescue shelter PAAWS made after Barnes' arrest.

PAAWS' board of directors told the Courier & Press in a written statement that Warrick County's animal welfare system became remote and unresponsive after Barnes' departure — a development the group said led to unnecessary animal deaths.

Taylor said in Barnes' absence Warrick County Animal Control has adopted a bureaucratic mindset. It's a mindset entirely inappropriate for work with animals who need passion, energy and imagination from the people who control their destinies, she said.

Taylor said a functionary at the agency told her it was no longer vaccinating cats with the legend drug.

"She said they were waiting for a veterinarian to do it, and it doesn’t need to be done by a vet," Taylor said. "But that’s just how they were choosing to do it. So we didn’t feel comfortable taking cats that were no longer being vaccinated as soon as they came into the facility, which should be the protocol. It was, before."

Barnes' removal from leadership at animal control is a mistake and her arrest misguided, Taylor said.

"Helping animals has been (Barnes') whole, entire existence," the Feline Fix founder said. "She did way more than most people could have with what little she had."

Reporter Houston Harwood contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Area volunteers criticize arrest of ex-Warrick Animal Control leader