El Paso Animal Services reports rising adoptions, discusses adoption follow-up; advisory committee creates annual-report subcommittee and re-elects leadership

The Animal Shelter Advisory Committee on Dec. 11 heard an El Paso Animal Services presentation showing strong adoption months and declining behavior-related euthanasia, discussed options for post-adoption follow-up, and took several procedural actions including creation of a subcommittee to prepare the committee’s 2024 annual report and re-election of the committee chair and vice chair.

El Paso Animal Services deputy director Michael Wachsman presented November statistics and operations updates. He said the shelter’s combined live-release rate for dogs and cats was 85.38% in November and that the shelter was “on pace for ’90, I think, ’91” percent by December. Wachsman told the committee November showed high adoption volume following record months in October and November: “October was the best month of October in a decade, and this is our best November in over a decade.”

Wachsman described field operations work that aims to keep animals in homes and reduce shelter intake. He reported the field team microchipped “over 200 pets in the month of November,” responded to more than 2,500 calls for service that month, issued “over 800 violations” and performed 522 impoundments where animals were removed because conditions did not meet standards. He credited animal protection officers with returning 11 animals to owners in the field, preventing shelter intake.

On surgical capacity and timing, Wachsman said the shelter averages about 30 surgeries per day for foster animals and about 20 in-house surgeries per day and seeks to perform spay/neuter surgery as close to an animal’s stray-hold/emancipation date as feasible. He described a triage that prioritizes animals in adoptable kennels for earlier surgery slots.

Operations manager Adan Parra explained microchip data entry practices. “We collect that information, and then we staff inputs that, over the course of the following week,” Parra said for large public microchipping events of several hundred animals; shelter-site microchips are entered immediately, while smaller pop-up events are entered within days. Michelle Anderson, the shelter’s marketing and public engagement manager, said the shelter is piloting an automated post-adoption tool: “PetSell is a new program that we are just started piloting…we are really excited to be piloting that.” Committee members said automation could help fill follow-up gaps created by limited staff hours.

Committee member Mary (last name not specified) introduced a proposal to create a team to follow up on adoptions and raised whether the city could require or lawfully enforce post-adoption welfare checks. Animal protection field manager Gina Ramirez said the department has active field staff: “We actually have 34 officers that are out boots on ground, that do respond to any animal related issues.” Assistant City Attorney Carlos Arbendarez noted municipal enforcement and prosecution authority, and that changes in Texas law have affected unlawful-restraint cases; he said, “I prosecuted those cases before.” The discussion produced no formal directive to create a mandated post-adoption inspection program; staff and committee members agreed to explore options, including the PetSell pilot and models used by other cities.

The committee also reviewed euthanasia and medical outcomes. Wachsman said behavior-related euthanasias have decreased after adding staff for enrichment and behavior support, dropping from 50 (last year’s November) to 34 this November. Foster and medical-foster placements remain a significant component of the shelter’s capacity.

Votes at a glance - Approval of minutes (Nov. 13, 2024): motion to approve carried unanimously (motion/second recorded on the agenda; outcome: approved). - Creation of ad-hoc subcommittee to prepare the 2024 ASAC annual report: motion carried unanimously. The committee named subcommittee members as Mary (committee member), Terry Breaux, Eileen Mendoza and Chair Chris Canales; the committee chair said he would coordinate a draft timeline and a target of a February draft. - FY2025 meeting schedule: motion to retain monthly virtual meetings on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m. (virtual) carried unanimously. - Election of leadership: Chris Canales was re-elected chair; Barbara Candelaria was elected vice chair (votes by voice and consensus noted in the meeting record). - Adjournment: motion carried.

What this means The shelter is reporting improving outcome metrics and continuing field efforts intended to keep animals in homes. Staff described operational practices to reduce intake (microchip events, enforcement by Animal Protection Officers) and to increase positive outcomes (spay/neuter scheduling, foster support and behavior enrichment). Committee members asked staff to research and report back on mechanisms for adoption follow-up and enforcement models used elsewhere; staff cited the PetSell pilot and existing enforcement and court processes as current tools.

The committee set a timetable for completing its written 2024 annual report: an ad-hoc subcommittee will draft recommendations and return them to the full committee for approval before the report is sent to city council.