Denton released the results of an independent review of animal services policies at the Linda McNatt Animal Care & Adoption Center on Tuesday, including a consultant’s recommendations to improve shelter operations and transparency and align policies with best practices for animal welfare.
Conducted by animal shelter consultant Shelter Savvy, the review highlights several strengths at Denton’s shelter, such as open adoptions, staff morale, a robust foster program and upcoming renovations to add indoor/outdoor dog runs via the 2023 bond program.
The review offers nearly two dozen recommendations to improve animal shelter operations.
They include eliminating formal behavior assessments for dogs, as the shelter is an unnatural environment for them, and returning healthy stray cats to their original location after treatment, because many owners allow their cats to roam and rehoming them wastes resources, separates pets from their owners and conflicts with the animal services department’s mission.
Other recommendations include refining intake and medical protocols. The consultant also recommended several actions related to euthanasia to create transparency:
- Publish a euthanasia decision flow chart and the policy on the animal services website for public access, detailing when and how decisions are made.
- Use a euthanasia decision form to document the rationale, background and authorizations for each decision. Attach these forms to the animal’s record in the department’s database to ensure they are easily accessible and searchable.
“City of Denton Animal Services is already aligned with best practices in many areas and demonstrates significant potential to align with all nationally recognized best practices in animal sheltering,” Carrie Ducote, the principal consultant for Shelter Saavy, wrote in the October report.
“With stable leadership now in place, DAS is well-positioned to implement meaningful changes that will improve both staff efficiency and animal welfare.”
According to a disclaimer at the end of the report, Ducote based the findings on four days of observations and information available at the time. She noted that she isn’t claiming to have discovered any or all existing or potential hazards or whether operations are in compliance with laws or regulations.
In a Nov. 6 memo to City Manager Sara Hensley, Nikki Sassenus, Denton’s animal services director, reiterated the strengths Ducote mentioned and the key recommendations suggested, including adjusting the intake and length of stay for dogs.
The reason for this adjustment, according to the October report, is because dogs make up 55% of the intakes and 64% of the deaths at the Denton shelter. It’s a nationwide problem due to increased owner surrenders and stray intakes combined with stagnant adoption and rescue rates.
“As noted in the report, many areas of improvement had already been identified by management as needing changes to bring the shelter in line with best practices and were being addressed at the time of the review, while others identified by the report have since been addressed or scheduled for correction,” Sassenus wrote.
“The report concludes that with stable leadership and planned renovations, DAS has the potential to significantly improve its lifesaving efforts and operational efficiency.”
Hensley couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The city auditor’s office is also conducting an audit of animal services operations and will present its findings at the Jan. 7 City Council meeting.
In the Nov. 6 memo, Sassenus said the purpose of the audit is to provide assurance that Animal Services is supplying effective animal care in the shelter and the community, verifying compliance with state and local regulations, and ensuring adequate fee collection practices
Sassenus also highlighted other reviews and audits of shelter practices that have taken place over the years, including a 2018 review that found several critical issues, such as improper cleaning and capacity for care, and a 2023 review that found inadequate documentation of feeding and euthanasia practices.
The city also released the previous reports Tuesday.
The city manager commissioned the report by Shelter Savvy after a family’s elderly dog, Gunner, was found roaming and dropped off at the shelter and was euthanized before the expiration of the 72-hour stray hold.
According to the October report, Denton Animal Services took in 2,566 dogs and 2,108 cats between September 2023 and August 2024. The save rate for cats was 87% and for dogs it was 81%, which is an overall save rate of 84% — up from 46% in 2015.
To achieve a “no-kill” shelter status, the department needs at least a 90% save rate, according to the October report.
“Only animals deemed medically or behaviorally unsafe — typically no more than 10% of intakes — should not leave the shelter alive to maintain no-kill status,” Ducote reported.
Ducote found that while animal services has a euthanasia protocol, it has not formally adopted or outlined policy for how euthanasia decisions are made.
In the report, Ducote offers recommendations to improve behavioral issues with the animals, such as offering enrichment for cats — toys, scratching posts and human interaction — and implementing spot cleaning to minimize disruption to the cats’ environment and reduce stress and behavioral issues.
Besides discontinuing the formal behavior assessment for dogs, several recommendations were offered to help improve the dogs’ behavior, including daily play groups that “will lead to decreased euthanasia for behavior reasons.”
Ducote also recommended labeling euthanasia decisions accurately, noting when it is done for space or behavior, and implementing policies to decrease behavior-related euthanasia. She included recommendations, as well, to reduce length of stay while increasing adoptions “to avoid space-related euthanasia.”
Culture and staff training were also reviewed, highlighting confusion among staff regarding updated protocols and frustration over the lack of consensus on procedures.
The report also includes survey results from animal services staff: Nine of the 15 respondents said they felt valued for the work they do, while six — especially the self-identified medical team — agreed they felt undervalued and pushed aside.
Staff said the shelter needs to enhance communication and consistency across departments, address staffing shortages and increase accountability at all levels to help ensure clearer protocols, a higher standard of care for animals and smoother operations.
Since October, Sassenus said the staff has made significant progress in working to improve deficiencies at the shelter to better align the department with best practices. They’ve also been participating in professional development, including the management team training in a 10-month program with Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit animal welfare organization.
The shelter supervisor is also enrolled in an animal management certification program through the society, Sassenus said in the Nov. 6 memo.
Other staff members will be participating in advanced animal control officer training and the local rabies control authority program.
In addition to the shelter’s expansion beginning in spring 2025, Sassenus mentioned that Denton Animal Services would be hiring two additional animal care technicians and a behavior, enrichment and placement coordinator. She said they will also reevaluating the shelter’s operating hours and community needs to extend adoption hours into the evenings on several weekdays.
They’ve developed a euthanasia policy that includes feedback from industry experts such as Shelter Savvy and Best Friends Animal Society “to ensure limited, consistent and humane euthanasia practices are in place, including disallowing euthanasia on days that the shelter is closed,” Sassenus wrote.
The euthanasia policy will come to a City Council work session for review in January.
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-220-4299 and cmcphate@dentonrc.com.
