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San Bernardino animal services director outlines 2025 statistics and plans to expand enforcement, rescue partnerships and community outreach
Summary
New director Jasmine Glover Matheimer presented 2025 operational statistics — including 131 citations, 62,614 dispatcher calls, 8,978 officer responses and 416 dog-bite incidents — and outlined plans for increased enforcement paired with free microchips, stronger rescue partnerships, more vaccine clinics, volunteer expansion and facility changes to add 286 kennels.
Jasmine Glover Matheimer, the new animal services director, delivered a detailed report on 2025 operations and laid out priorities for 2026, including stepped-up enforcement tied to free microchipping, renewed outreach to rescue partners, expanded vaccine clinics and facility repairs.
Matheimer said the department issued 131 citations in 2025 accounting for 696 distinct violations, handled 62,614 incoming dispatcher calls with three dispatchers on staff, and recorded 8,978 officer responses to field activities. The shelter recorded 416 dog-bite incidents and attended seven court cases. "I never want people to forget that we our shelter is operating as a mini animal emergency room for urgent care," Matheimer said, emphasizing the shelter’s public-safety role.
On enforcement, Matheimer said citations function largely as "fix-it" tickets and estimated roughly 70 percent compliance when people are given opportunities to remedy violations. To reduce the likelihood that cited owners surrender animals to avoid penalties, the department will offer a free microchip at the time a citation is issued and tie that chip to the person receiving the citation.
Matheimer outlined the shelter’s volunteer and foster capacity: 6,984 volunteer hours recorded in 2025 and 93 "active volunteers" in the last four months as tracked by the shelter’s logistics system; 876 animals were in foster (with 129 awaiting spay/neuter). She said the mobile surgery bus performed 2,066 spay/neuter surgeries last year and is now in use three to four days a week with additional veterinary partners.
The director also addressed construction and animal-housing plans. All new kennels are installed, but plumbing and electrical work remains; once finished the shelter will have 286 kennels available. Matheimer warned that the medical building lacks proper drainage, causing pooling and epoxy failure, and proposed moving cat housing into that building while removing dog kennels from it to reduce disease-control risks.
Matheimer set goals to strengthen rescue relationships (aiming for a 6 percent increase in rescue pulls), convene rescue roundtables, expand vaccine clinics, and launch recurring community events such as "donuts with a dog." She cited a January 1 California law change that allows registered veterinary technicians (RBTs) to administer rabies vaccines without a veterinarian on site, pending approval by the premise permit holder, which could facilitate more community vaccine clinics.
Commissioners raised questions about Brown Act limits on commissioners' ability to coordinate outside formal meetings; Matheimer said she would seek clarification from city staff. Commissioners and staff also discussed possible formation of a nonprofit partner and the administrative costs versus grant benefits.
Matheimer closed by calling for more public education and branding under the "SBC pets" campaign and asked commissioners to serve as local ambassadors to distribute flyers and participate in semiannual adoption and donation events.
