How Animal Control Really Works: An Advocate’s Guide

When it comes to stray animals, barking dog complaints, and lost pets, why do some towns seem to run efficient shelters while others barely cover the basics? The answer reveals a surprising patchwork of animal control models—and the role advocates can play in making them better.

I break down the difference between animal control and animal sheltering, how animal control really works, and argue that animal control should be considered an essential government function.  This is the second in our series exploring potential legislation that can move the needle for animals: making local animal control services mandatory. 

In this episode, we explore:

• What animal control  is—and how it differs from animal sheltering

• The three core models: direct government, private contracting, and regional partnerships

• What happens when some states mandate animal control while others leave it up to local choice

• How funding structures shape the quality of animal services

• The real reasons behind euthanasia in open admission municipal shelters

• How to research your community’s animal control system and advocate for better outcomes

• Practical steps you can take—including what not to do when you see a shelter in crisis

I answer a listener question about shelters euthanizing healthy animals, offering actionable, compassionate advice for people who want to help beyond just adopting.

Key Takeaway: Animal control services may look different depending on a community’s needs and resources — but they are essential to the wellbeing of both animals and people. Local governments, whether municipal or county, should be required to provide them.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 What Is Animal Control? — Deining  animal control versus animal sheltering, and why it matters for advocates.

02:48 State & Local Laws: The Patchwork Explained — How animal control systems are created by states and differ widely by location.

03:43 State Mandates: Who’s Required to Do What? — Examples from California, Massachusetts, Ohio, and how differing mandates drive local services.

05:54 Permissive States: When Animal Control Is Optional — The huge variation in approaches seen in states like Pennsylvania and Texas.

07:30 Free Assessment Tool — A resource to evaluate your local shelter’s performance and where advocacy can help.

08:48 Models of Animal Control Delivery — Direct provision, private contracting, and regional cooperation—what they mean for outcome and accountability.

10:25 The Open Admission Dilemma — Why municipal shelters must take every animal and the challenges they face with resources and capacity.

11:25 Where Animal Control Sits in Government — Health department vs. police department models, and how structure impacts service.

12:19 The Funding Factor — How budgets, contracts, and donations shape the quality of animal control services.

14:48 Open Admission vs. Private Shelters — Why municipal shelters face the toughest cases and need community support, not blame.

15:33 How to Research Your Local System — Step-by-step on finding out who runs animal control in your area and how to request key data.

17:11 Q&A: How to Help When Euthanasia Happens — Concrete advice for making an impact if you can’t adopt, from volunteering to doing “PR” for your shelter.

20:00 Advocacy Homework: Be the Change — Penny’s challenge to listeners to educate friends, support municipal shelters, and become part of the solution.

Links:

• Free Shelter Assessment Tool & Advocacy Resources: animaladvocacyacademy.com/free-resources

• Podcast show notes, transcripts and previous episodes: animaladvocacyacademy.com

• Open My Government – All the information you need to request public records including an interactive map to see the rules and process in your state

 

Transcript

Welcome back to the Animal Advocate, your guide for moving from compassion into action. Today we’re exploring animal control, how it actually works, and why it varies so dramatically from community to community. If you’ve ever wondered why one town handles stray animals differently from another, or why some shelters seem well funded while others really struggle, this episode will give you some of those answers. And I’m doing this to tee up next week’s interview with someone who’s really been on the front lines of animal control. So think of today as your prep session before we go deeper next week.

Understanding how animal control works in your area and how it could work differently is really important knowledge for any animal advocate. By the end of this episode, you’ll know the main functions animal control performs, the different models communities use, and most importantly, how to research and potentially improve the system in your own community.

Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host, Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web at AnimalAdvocacyAcademy.com and that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources, and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So on to today’s topic.

Before we look at how animal control works, let’s define what we’re talking about. Animal control and animal sheltering are related, but different functions, and they’re often confused. Animal control means the services communities provide to manage the relationship between people and animals. Think picking up stray animals, enforcing licensing laws, investigating animal bites, rabies control, responding to complaints about barking dogs or animals running loose, and ensuring public safety around animals. On the other hand, animal sheltering refers to facilities and services that house animals temporarily. That could be a government run facility or an independent nonprofit. We did a whole show on the different types of shelters, so if you want to learn more, you can find that at  animaladvocacyacademy.com/4. Think of it this way. Animal control is about managing human animal interactions in the community. Animal sheltering is about caring for animals that need temporary housing. Sometimes the same organization does both functions, but they can also be separate. Some shelters provide animal control services because they have a contract with a local government. Others focus solely on sheltering without any responsibility to take in strays or perform any other animal control functions.

So what are our laws around animal control? First, there’s no federal law relating to stray control and no federal programs to promote responsible pet ownership. So the way your community handles stray animals, pet licensing and public safety around animals is entirely determined by your state and local laws.

Animal control isn’t one system, it’s dozens. State lines matter, and so do county and town lines. States approach animal control responsibility in dramatically different ways. Example, in California, counties and cities are legally required to run a pound system and impound dogs found at large. They can do it themselves or they can contract with a private shelter. In Massachusetts, every city and town appoints an animal control officer and each year the local board issues a warrant, not like a judge’s warrant, but an administrative order telling that officer to seek out, catch and confine unlicensed or at large dogs. In Ohio, county commissioners appoint a dog warden and he seizes and impounds dogs. And the county has to maintain a pound or make arrangements with a shelter. So it’s the same job, but they’re very different models.

And those choices drive hours, staffing and response times. One town might run 24/7 pickup of strays.  Five miles away, services might be limited to business hours or handled by a regional contract. That’s the animal control patchwork people run into every day.

 So, I looked into this and my research shows that at least 13 states, more than a quarter of all states, have clear statewide mandates requiring municipalities or counties to provide stray dog pickup and impoundment. These include major states like California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Arizona, West Virginia and North Carolina and New Jersey, which is what we’ll focus on in the next episode. States with mandates require local governments to maintain holding facilities, record all impounded animals, and follow strict protocols for attempting to reunite lost pets with their owners. What’s interesting is how these mandatory states still give local governments flexibility in how they can meet those obligations. For example, Virginia says every county and city shall maintain or cause to be maintained a public animal shelter. Notice that language “cause to be maintained.” That means they can contract it out. Ohio lets counties appoint the sheriff instead of a separate dog warden or contract with other municipalities. New Jersey, which has one of the most detailed frameworks, allows municipalities to contract with licensed “pounds.” Don’t you love that word? But those facilities have to meet state licensing requirements. The other roughly 37 states take a permissive approach. They authorize local animal control, but don’t require it. States like Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida and Washington say municipalities “may” provide these services.

This scattered approach has really created big differences between communities. Some offer comprehensive services, while others provide very little. Pennsylvania is a perfect example of the permissive model. State dog wardens and police can seize dogs running at large. And municipalities may have animal control officers, but there’s no mandate. The result? Some municipalities have excellent animal control programs, while others have virtually none.

Before we continue, I want to tell you about some free resources that can help you take action in your own community. If you’re hearing about these different animal control models and wondering how your local system measures up, I’ve created a free shelter assessment tool that walks you through exactly what to look for and what questions to ask. This tool helps you evaluate whether your local shelter is doing everything it can within the constraints they face, or if there are specific areas where advocacy could make a real difference. You’ll find this tool and other free resources designed to turn your compassion into effective action at animaladvocacyacademy.com/free-resources. Because understanding the system is the first step to changing it.

Now let’s get back to understanding how these different animal control models actually play out in practice. No matter which model a state follows mandatory or permissive, there are consistent patterns in how communities can actually organize their services. And this is where it gets really interesting from a practical standpoint, because even states with mandates give local governments remarkable flexibility in meeting those obligations. The research shows three main service delivery models that work across almost all states, whether they have a mandate or not.

First, you have direct provision where municipalities or counties run their own animal control programs with their own officers and their own shelters. This is the classic government model that you might imagine. Second, as I’ve mentioned, there’s private contracting, which is explicitly authorized in many states. Illinois says counties may “operate pounds or contract for their operation.” Maine and West Virginia allow contracting with private shelters. The key insight here is that when governments contract out, they’re still meeting their legal obligations. They’re just using a different delivery mechanism. And that shelter may be only a municipal shelter. It may be a nonprofit private shelter that just takes on a municipal contract as part of its work. So the third model is inter-local and regional cooperation where multiple municipalities share services. A county might have a shelter and the municipalities can bring their dogs there. Or a group of smaller municipalities may go together on a shelter or contract. This model allows smaller communities to pool resources and achieve economies of scale.

 What unites all these models is a critical requirement. Regardless of how the service is delivered, these government connected shelters must accept every animal that comes to them, Provided an animal is picked up or turned in from the area the shelter serves. Municipal shelters are required to take in every animal that comes to them, no matter how full they are, how sick or injured the pet may be, or how many pets arrive in a single day. They don’t get to choose who they help. They serve every animal and every person in their community.

Municipal shelters are on the front lines of the homeless pet crisis. Because they have no control over intake, their teams are forced to make really hard choices, Often with limited resources and staff. Beyond deciding how to deliver the services, communities have to figure out where to house animal control within their government structure, and this choice can significantly impact how well the program functions. Some communities place animal control under health departments, Recognizing the public health aspects of rabies control and disease prevention. Burlington county in New Jersey does this approach. They put their animal sheltering operation within the disease prevention and control division of the health department. In smaller communities, animal control duties are often assigned to police departments or sheriff’s deputies. While this can work for basic stray pickup, it often means animal welfare issues receive less specialized attention. Since officers aren’t trained specifically in animal functions and they have lots of other responsibilities, these organizational choices directly impact what animal control officers can actually do in the field.

The powers granted to animal control officers vary significantly. Some animal control officers have the power to arrest or issue citations, Some do not. Some are licensed to carry firearms, some are not. Some also enforce the animal cruelty laws, some do not.

Perhaps nothing determines the quality of animal control services, though, more than funding. And this is where the models diverge most dramatically. When animal control is a direct government service, it competes with all other municipal roads, police, fire, schools for tax dollars. Regardless of the source of your animal control’s funding, though, it’s important to remember that your local elected officials are ultimately responsible for approving the budget for animal control programs and services.

 Now, when services are contracted out, funding becomes a negotiation between the government and the service provider. This can lead to underfunded contracts where providers struggle to meet community needs within budget constraints. Think about it. It’s usually a negotiation between a nonprofit that really cares about animals in the community and a government that’s trying to spend as little as possible. I think it’s pretty common for nonprofits to agree to perform services below cost because they don’t feel like they can just walk away, because then who will do it?

Many operations combine multiple funding sources. For example, in Philadelphia and places like Bergen County, New Jersey, Animal shelter services are funded through both municipal contracts and Private donations. Remember, the government contract is designed to fund only animal control. Giving animals in the shelter a good quality of life and making sure they’re adopted out are not part of animal control. So a lot of shelters with municipal contracts only get enough money to take in the animals and hold them for the stray holding period. They have to raise money for the animal sheltering part of their mission in some other way, mainly through donations and grants. Some communities also fund animal control partially through pet licensing and adoption fees.

 All of these structural differences have real consequences. Communities with well funded, professionally managed animal control often achieve higher live release rates, better public health outcomes and more effective cruelty prevention. Communities with underfunded or fragmented services may struggle with stray populations, disease outbreaks and unaddressed welfare concerns. The requirement for open admission municipal shelters to take every animal brought to them, while private organizations without municipal contracts may be selective about intake, creates a situation where often the most difficult cases – sick animals, aggressive animals, elderly animals – end up concentrated in the facilities with the least resources.

Rather than blame these facilities for having inadequate space and resources to deal with the constant influx of animals, we should recognize that they need our support. Sure, there are probably some shelter directors that don’t care, but I don’t believe that’s the majority. I don’t even believe it’s a significant minority. For the most part, municipal shelters are not failing animals. They’re shouldering a community wide responsibility that requires community wide solutions.

So how do you find out how animal control works in your community? To launch a successful campaign to create positive changes, you’ll need to understand your local structure. First. Start by identifying who provides animal control in your area. State and local laws define how animal control services are provided. You can begin by calling your city hall and asking who handles animal control. If they contract services, ask for a copy of the contract. Look for shelter statistics if they’re published. Many states and local governments also require shelters to maintain records on individual animals, including intake numbers, adoption rates and euthanasia statistics. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have public records laws similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act. So if it’s not published, you could do a request under your state law. State public records laws allow members of the public to get documents and other public records from state and local governments.

Understanding your local model is the first step toward improving it. If your community contracts with a private organization, you might advocate for performance standards in the contract. If services are provided directly by government, you might push for increased budget allocation or professional training requirements. Sometimes it’s easier if you go for something that’s not a direct financial expenditure. Also, regional partnerships offer opportunities for smaller communities to achieve better outcomes through shared resources. If your community struggles with funding, research whether neighboring municipalities might be interested in a regional approach.

Most importantly, support your local municipal shelter or the organization holding your municipal contract. When you’re considering adoption, think of your local open admissions shelter. Reach out and ask what they need, whether it’s foster homes, supplies, donations or volunteers.

 So here’s today’s Q and A. Our question comes from Laura, who asks, I see that my local shelter is euthanizing healthy animals. It drives me crazy. How can I help if I can’t adopt?

Laura, thank you for wanting to help. A lot of people just blame the shelter, but you’re asking the right question. How can I actually make a difference? I’m assuming you’re seeing posts online about specific animals at risk of euthanasia. And I’m going to say something that might be controversial now, but it needs to be said. If your shelter is already reaching out to rescues, tagging them on social media or emailing those rescues just clogs up the communication channels. That’s not your job. Another thing not to do. Don’t call the shelter and keep asking whether an animal has a safe exit. Think of that as clogging up the telephone lines at police stations by people who are just curious about what’s going on. Shelter staff need to be responding to calls and emails from rescues and adopters who are actually looking to provide a safe exit. Look, I know what it’s like. A lot of us get so deeply invested without ever actually meeting the animals at risk. But just imagine how the staff and active volunteers feel when they can’t find a safe exit for an adoptable animal. Let them do their job.

So what can you do? Share. And I’ll repeat my advice from an earlier podcast. Don’t just hit share. Introduce it with anything specific that you know. Call out important things in the animal’s description. Do something that might get more eyeballs on that share. But more important than that, obviously foster and volunteer. A lot of people aren’t in the position to foster, but I think a lot of people do have a few hours a week or a few hours every other week that they could go to the shelter and help those animals stay sane and adoptable. Then you’ll have great, engaging photos and video to share of real experiences you had with animals that are desperate for a safe exit. The more hands on deck, the wider net we cast because everyone has a different network. So the more people that share their volunteering experiences, the more people see those animals.

 In our next episode, I’ll be speaking with Brian Hackett about New Jersey’s mandatory system and how different communities within that framework have chosen to meet their obligations. We’ll explore what works, what doesn’t, and what lessons other states might learn from New Jersey’s approach. We’ll also examine some innovative regional partnerships that are achieving remarkable results through collaboration.

For today’s Be the Change segment, I want you to become an advocate for your local municipal shelter. Basically, become their volunteer PR department, because they probably don’t have one and the odds are good they’re working incredibly hard under impossible circumstances. Many of your friends might not want to support a municipal shelter because they don’t understand why they have to euthanize animals. This is your chance to educate them about what it means to be open admission. You might describe it like an airplane with 180 seats, but 200 people show up with valid tickets because they were overbooked. The airline just can’t squeeze in 20 more people. There are literal physical constraints. There aren’t more seats, and safety regulations prevent putting people in the aisles. Some passengers will be bumped no matter how much everyone wishes there was another solution. The difference is airlines can book passengers on the next flight. Municipal shelters don’t have that luxury. There’s no next flight for homeless animals, so that space constraint is real. And that’s what open admissions shelters face every day. They have physical kennel space, staffing limits and safety requirements. They can’t say we’re full. Try somewhere else, like a private business might.  They have to take every animal even when they’re already over capacity. When you explain this to friends and family, help them understand that these shelters aren’t failing animals. Ask them to help. Ask them to adopt, of course, instead of shop, volunteer for just two hours a month, foster during kitten season when they know they’ll probably get adopted pretty quickly, or donate $20 to a spay neuter program to prevent future animals from needing shelter space. Your municipal shelter employs real people who are doing one of the hardest jobs in animal welfare. They deserve a community that understands their mission and stands behind their work.

That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show note at animaladvocacyacademy.com along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss our podcasts and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic related to animal law, email them to podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode, or both. And remember, compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better. Until next week, Live With Compassion.