LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Almost Home Humane Society didn’t mince words on Friday, the morning after Fourth of July festivities.

An Almost Home post on Facebook, topping photos of an array of goods from fireworks stands, read: “We are looking for any information concerning the Scum Of The Earth that decided to set off fireworks in the parking lot of our shelter last night.”

As of late morning, that so-called “scum of the earth” hadn’t been revealed, said Roger Ganley, Almost Home Humane Society’s executive director.

But he said that staff and volunteers at the shelter, tucked away on a fairly remote part of South Second Street in Lafayette, were trying to figure out why someone would come to an animal shelter parking lot to shoot off pyrotechnics.

More than that, he said, they were trying to fathom who would have leaned displays on curb bumpers, cut from former telephone poles, so the fireworks were aimed directly at the building that housed 23 adoptable dogs and 70-plus adoptable cats, along with assorted other animals and dozens of other dogs and cats to go on the ready-for-adoption list.

“I think it was people who lacked common sense, who decided, ‘Look, there’s an open parking lot, let’s just do it,’” Ganley said.

“But I’m sure they heard, when that when the first one went off, that the dogs started barking from the parking lot,” Ganley said. “I know they heard it. They could have stopped, but they chose not to.”

Ganley said that based on the cleanup on Friday morning, there were enough fireworks to keep people busy “for a half-hour, at least.” He said the humane society did not call the Lafayette Police Department to report it, mainly because he wasn’t sure what officers would be able to do about it at this point.

“We’re using this to talk about how we prepare for next year’s Fourth,” Ganley said.

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Ganley said the Fourth of July already was busy preparing dogs and cats for noises that can freak them out. He said a second shift was on hand to give extra walks and extra attention to animals before Independence Day fireworks really kicked in. Staff members turned on radios and TVs overnight, kept lights on for cats and gave dogs rubber toys with treats inside “to keep the concentrating on something else, at least for a couple of hours.”

He said that during the day on Thursday, as he worked outside, every occasional crack of fireworks would set off a cacophony in the dog kennels.

“We do all those things to help make the night go by,” Ganley said. “Because it’s really rough on them.”

What if someone fesses up?

“I was hoping,” Ganley said. “I would go over an explain to them, if they were local here in the neighborhood, what the situation was. To begin with, all the animals who come in here, they’re displaced, and they’re stressed. … All that extra noise makes it worse for them.”

If it turns out that some came there to shoot off fireworks with the purpose of tormenting the dogs and cats?

“I can’t understand,” Ganley said. “You’d have to know it’s the wrong thing to do.”

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.