Denton shelter rolls out barcode monitoring system that staff say improves care and adoption matching

City of Denton staff reported that they have implemented an enhanced barcode-based monitoring system at the City of Denton Animal Shelter to track daily care tasks and animal health, replacing a previously paper-based process.

Shelter staff said the new system lets workers scan barcodes with phones to log active care tasks, track which animals need attention and identify trends faster. "We're able to more proactively check and monitor animal care activities and the health of each individual animal," a shelter staff member said, describing increased efficiency and earlier detection of issues.

The shelter previously used handwritten logs, which staff described as inefficient. "It was really an inefficient way," one staff member said, and the barcode process was implemented to streamline reporting. Another staff member said an individual affiliated with the program "built the code to generate barcodes based on our animal ID numbers," but did not provide a name.

Staff emphasized that the technology is a tool rather than a substitute for people. "The technology is a cool tool, and it really helps us, but, really, it's the staff members and the people here at the shelter that make it all function," a staff member said. A different staff member added, "I like the convenience of doing it through technology rather than writing it down on a piece of paper each and every day."

The system includes a dashboard view that staff said shows which dogs need checks, which sections are incomplete and what tasks remain for the day, improving oversight of daily workflows. Staff and the reporter said the system has helped make more rescue and adoption matches by adding more detailed information to each pet's record. "I wish we could just give it to everyone to be able to use because it really has been a game changer for us," reporter Kimberly Barotaran said.

Shelter staff described the shelter's annual intake as "thousands of animals," a figure cited in the segment but not quantified further. There was no mention in the transcript of funding sources, formal interagency agreements to share the software, or plans for public release. The shelter expressed a desire to see the approach adopted more widely but offered no implementation timetable or formal policy action during the recorded segment.

The segment closed with the reporter's sign-off from Denton. No formal municipal action, vote or ordinance was recorded in the transcript.