Huntsville Animal Services publishes shelter data annually and monthly. The forms track animals entering the shelter and leaving the shelter, using a variety of categories. This information is used to calculate the "live release rate" for the shelter. We use the live release calculation method promoted by the No Kill Advocacy Center which is essentially live outcomes divided by all outcomes.
2022 Statistics (click on the report to see a pdf file)
Full Year 2022 Report dog live release rate 87%, cat live release rate 96%
We use reports we seek from the Huntsville City Attorney's Office every month to analyze trends with the shelter operation. We track trends from year to year and we track the percentage of dogs destroyed for behavior each month because this is one of the biggest issues the city continues to face year after year.
The following images represent our analysis of the shelter data from 2018 to the present. We started with 2018 because that is the year the city changed the City Code regarding animals. We also first began seeking "Euthanasia Reports" from the shelter in 2018 and have those reports through to the present.
While many people are claiming locally (and nationally) that people are returning animals adopted during the pandemic in droves, the data does not really support those claims. We recognize some people are having problems due to the pandemic, housing challenges and the economy and that owner surrenders have increased due to the fact that people need help.