Animal services manager: March intake 244; live-release rate falls to 59.18%

Animal Services Manager Amanda Wedel reported to the Shelter Advisory Committee that the municipal shelter logged 244 new arrivals in March 2026 and had a live-release rate of 59.18%.

Wedel presented detailed outcomes: 46 adoptions, 39 transfers, 30 redeemed by owners, 30 SNR releases, five wildlife releases and 108 deceased. "Of the 108 deceased, 90 were dogs, 18 were cats," Wedel said, and she supplied a breakdown of euthanasia reasons: 37 for aggressive behavior, 34 for sickness or injury, eight for failure to thrive, 21 for capacity constraints and three related to bite investigations. She also said five animals died in custody or were deceased on arrival.

The numbers prompted committee questions about the redeemed-by-owner figure and why citations were not issued consistently at pick-up. A committee member asked, "How many did you say were redeemed?" Wedel replied that the figure is 30 and explained that the shelter recently split redeemed and SNR counts to show true redemption numbers; previously those had been combined and would have appeared as about 60.

Wedel acknowledged that not all redeemed animals were spayed or neutered, and that citations are not always issued at the time of redemption because an officer may not be available at the front desk. "It is something that I am looking into as far as the citation being issued ahead of time," she said, and added that current ordinance language does not allow mailing citations.

Committee members also noted a month-to-month dip in transfers and adoptions. Wedel attributed short-term declines to seasonal trends: "Post-Christmas, the numbers tend to go down," she said, and predicted activity typically rises in summer and falls again around school start dates.

The committee did not take formal action on programmatic changes during the meeting. The next steps discussed were monitoring week-to-week trends and reviewing citation procedure options with staff and legal counsel.