DuPage Animal Friends approves veterinary contract, reports 94% live-release rate; staff outlines avian-flu precautions

DuPage Animal Friends’ board approved a contract for veterinary services and several grant appropriations and heard an administrative update that the shelter ended 2024 with a 94% live-release rate.

Laura Winnie, communications and outreach coordinator for DuPage Animal Friends, told trustees that the shelter “ended 2024 with a 94% live release rate.” She said intake declined in 2024, with the shelter admitting “just shy of 1,815 animals,” and that the organization added field-investigation and field-call totals to its publicly posted statistics.

The board voted to approve a procurement contract with Turner Vet Services for $25,005.17 to cover mobile veterinary services. Staff described the contract as covering the mobile veterinary vehicle’s March-through-November season and said the work funded under the contract primarily supports cat surgeries performed through the mobile unit. Staff said the shelter’s annual number of surgeries can vary and estimated it handles “anywhere from 500 to 800 surgeries” in some years.

In addition to the veterinary contract, the board approved three appropriations: an unrestricted $50,000 grant to DuPage Animal Friends, a $5,000 appropriation to a foundation coordinator (purpose not specified in the record), and acceptance of interest…