Animal control is killing fewer dogs and cats

January 22, 2010

Valencia County Animal Control is killing fewer dogs and cats because of active adoption and rescue transfers, according to Ruben Chavez, who oversees the shelter.

The county transferred 1,166 animals into rescue programs that would have otherwise stayed at the animal shelter and might have needed to be euthanized. Some animals have been transferred to Moriarty, Santa Fe and as far away as Denver.

“We have never done that before,” Chavez said.

The animal shelter had 1,106 dogs and cats adopted locally in 2009, surpassing its goal of 1,000 adoptions each year.

Between 1995 and 2000, the county’s euthanasia rate was more than 90 percent of all animals brought into the shelter. Now the rate is 58 percent.

“You almost have a 50-percent chance of saving any animal that comes into the shelter. That’s a fantastic figure,” Chavez said.

For the last seven years, the euthanasia rate has declined, despite the shelter being an open facility accepting animals from not only an increasing number of county residents but also from other local governments. The shelter takes in around 6,400 animals each year.

Even with the increasing county residential population, the number of intakes hasn’t really increased. Chavez said the reason is that animal control officers are more effectively communicating with residents about how to keep their pets from getting locked up.

“They’re speaking with people, leaving door hangers, and it shows in the figures,” he said. “Those kinds of tactics are working.”

Part of the animal shelter’s success in reducing the death rate is because it set a goal of saving dogs and cats, initiating an internal competition among employees to see who could save the most through adoptions and transfers.

Posted in: Services