INDIANAPOLIS — Staff with Noah's Animal Hospital said "No Trespassing" signs have not been enough to keep people off their construction site and it's delaying the opening of their new clinic.
"Initially when we got the building those were the first things that went, air conditioning units and the copper wiring," said Noah's Animal Hospital director of communication Tom Dock.
Noah's Animal Hospital has been fighting an uphill battle getting their new clinic open, as they are trying to expand services to the other side of West Washington Street.
"We just want to make sure we can be there to serve all the pets in the area and their people," said Dock.
The clinic specializes in affordable care for pets. That's something nearby neighbors appreciate.
"When you have to take them to the vet. When they get sick or something, it's very expensive," said neighbor Kelly Jarrett.
The new facility will allow them to serve a larger number of animals. Trespassers are delaying the opening.
"What's really starting to hurt us is we've had a lot of vandalism. We've had a lot of things stolen. We've had a contractor's truck being stolen," said Dock.
That's not all.
"Then kind of the icing on the cake these past few weeks, we got a letter from the city saying, 'Hey, by the way, you've got all these things dumped in your backyard," said Dock.
When they checked it out, they couldn't believe it.
"It was an 18-foot boat. It was tires, it was concrete blocks. It was not stuff that was part of our construction project," said Dock.
Jarrett said he's not surprised about the illegal dumping.
"I mean this is a good neighborhood don't get me wrong. But people do … They just don't want to go to the dump anymore, so they just trash it where there's a dark spot," said Jarrett.
Dock said ultimately, it's the community that's suffering.
"Every dollar that we have to spend fixing graffiti pulling away boats that don't belong there is that much less we can do to help the community in this area," said Dock.
They're asking the community to help by reporting any suspicious activity to the authorities.
Staff with Noah's Animal Hospital are putting out "No Dumping" signs and new security cameras to help track down trespassers.
Their goal is to open the new facility by the end of March.