Animal Services: 90 percent ‘no kill’ goal achievable by 2020

Animal services rolled out it’s new spay and neuter truck, and with it, a goal to become a 90 percent no-kill shelter by 2020.

Animal services director Paula Powell told city council members Tuesday her department is actually close to that goal already.

The shelter reached 88 percent live release figures as of August 2018. That is a huge turnaround. Just last year, animal services reported a 27 percent live release, which means many of the animals in the shelter had to be euthanized.

Now, the shelter is concentrating on adopting-out, fostering, micro-chipping, and spaying and neutering animals to keep populations of unwanted animals down.

That is the goal of the new spay and neuter truck due to roll out and go into service as soon as it is fully functional.

The shelter’s goal is to become 90 per cent live release by 2020.

“Live release is the number of animals outcome, basically alive. that, by either adoptions, by fosters that are taking care of them, by rescues that come and take care of them,” said Powell.

El Paso’s animal shelter also has what many cities do not: firefighters who don’t simply rescues cats from trees, they actually help animal services by partnering with them.

Powell says firefighters even help with adoption drives and sometimes even give out rabies shots.

Animal services is also changed the name and responsibilities of their animal catchers.

They are now animal operator officers.

Those officers no longer catch animals and return them to the shelter. they now try to find the animal’s owners before returning to the shelter.