Why Animal Sheltering Organizations See Different Data Trends Locally vs. Nationally
February 5, 2025
Shelter Animals Count (SAC) released the Full Year Q1-Q4 report from 2022, with data from the Intake and Outcome Database and the Community Services Database.
– 4% more animals entered shelters than left in 2022. This is up from 2% in 2021. This is the largest gap in the past four years.
– The number of animals entering shelters continues to slightly increase each year since the pandemic, but is still 16% less than 2019. Dog intakes represented the majority of this increase.
– Dog adoption rates remained very consistent throughout 2022, with 53% of dogs being adopted by year-end. Cats had higher overall adoption rates than dogs at 64%, but saw much more variability in the rates by quarter.
– The increased number of animals in shelters today is a combination of many factors, but nationally, it is not being driven by an increase in owner surrenders. Owner relinquishment rates remain consistent in the last four years at around 25%.
– The percentage of dogs being transferred between shelters continues to be the lowest rate in 4 years.