Queso

Queso was “rescued” by Humane Society of the Dunes on March 25, 2023. He was originally at Indianapolis Animal Care Services before HSotD pulled him. The founder of the rescue is Jane Hullsiek and the rescue is based out of Chesterton in Northwest Indiana (NWI).

Although “rescue only” animals are normally posted by the IACS Shelter Rescue Team page (formerly called IACS Rescue), we’ve never been able to find a post made by them about Queso, so we don’t know why he was rescue only. Oftentimes the rescue coordinator at IACS would reach out to rescues privately without posting the animals publicly, so this was not an uncommon occurrence. Through public records requests to the shelter, we know he was listed as a 5 year old Dogo Argentino.

An IACS volunteer posted about Queso the day after he left the Indy shelter, stating he’d gone to Humane Society of the Dunes. On the post, staff and volunteers commented expressing how much they liked this dog and described him as a “sweet teddy bear”.

Post by an IACS volunteer the day after Queso was pulled by Humane Society of the Dunes

Jane, the director of Humane Society of the Dunes, told an IACS volunteer she might keep Queso. This is the same thing she said about Nixon, Aric, and Harkness, none of whom she adopted permanently (she “adopted” Nixon briefly but claimed she rehomed him for getting into a spat with her other dog and chasing her cats). She actually did adopt an IACS dog named Misty, and possibly adopted a dog named Ethan either temporarily or permanently (see our post about Ethan for more info on that).

Comments from IACS volunteers on the IACS volunteer’s post about Queso

Humane Society of the Dunes never posted any updates about Queso and their Facebook page is now deleted. IACS seemingly never posted him publicly either. Without public records requests or finding the 2023 post from the IACS volunteer, we never would have known he existed and unfortunately he’s one of several animals she pulled with no posts by IACS or herself, or updates. Worse, the public records IACS supplied with the “full list” of animals pulled from them by HSotD was incomplete, which we found by meticulously matching every rescue post to the list they sent. That’s why we say 110+ animals in our posts, because unfortunately we don’t know the true number 💔 We hope to do right by these animals by telling what little is known of their stories and finding out what happened to them.

We are offering a $100 gift to anyone who can provide proof of Queso’s whereabouts today. If you fostered or adopted Queso, or if you know what happened to him, please reach out. It’s never too late to speak up.