Contract restored with longtime Wichita veterinarian for emergency animal services

Wichita’s contract for emergency vet services has been restored to a 24-7 veterinarian in the city after police previously awarded the contract to a vet in another county, which critics said left animals to suffer.

The City Council this week approved the contract going back to Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital of Wichita, which had the contract for more than a decade before finding out in an email from the Wichita Police Department that Hodes Veterinary Health Center in Rose Hill had been awarded the contract.

The Rose Hill vet had the contract from Jan. 9 to July 31 before dropping it, citing a lack of communication with the city of Wichita and “verbal abuse from Good Samaritans.”

Dr. Brian Hodes, an owner and veterinarian at the clinic, has never responded to requests from The Eagle to comment about how the contract came about.

The emergency vet services contract included services for wounded and sick stray dogs and cats found in Wichita. Residents were supposed to be able to bring those animals directly to the vet provider, but Hodes kept insisting they couldn’t do that, that the animals would have to go through the Wichita Police Department’s animal control officers first unless the resident wanted to be financially responsible, while WPD was adamant that people could bring them there at any time.

The confusion and lack of direct access to a 24/7 vet left animals to suffer, according to multiple accounts The Eagle previously reported on.

On Tuesday, a council member asked questions about how Hodes got the contract in the first place. And the answers from Wichita Purchasing Manager Josh Lauber, who was accompanied by WPD Capt. Derek Purcell, contrasted what was said in emails previously obtained by The Eagle.

Questions from a council member

On Tuesday, Council member Mike Hoheisel said there was “discussion and angst in the community” about the “previous contract and how all that went through.” He asked for an explanation.

Purcell deferred the question to Lauber to answer.

Lauber said that this time they used a state list to notify 156 potential vets about the contract. Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital was the only one to respond, he said.

No one responded to the two put out last year before WPD picked Hodes.

“We kept trying, we kept trying but we could not get the vendors to respond,” Lauber told council members “(Hodes) was the only contractor … that indicated any interest in the contract.”

But WPD never reached out to any other vets, according to the emails obtained by The Eagle and contrasting accounts from WPD.

Details of the new contract

This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 4:32 PM.