We are a full-service animal care division of the Public Works Department comprised of four units: Field Operations (Animal Control), Medical Services, dog, cat, and small animals Shelter Operations, and Administration.

Each unit works in collaboration with each other for the care of the animals in the community that we serve.

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Mission Statement

It is our mission to provide a welcoming and humane place for animals and those who care for them; to protect, educate and serve the public; to develop programs that improve the lives of people and animals; and to create opportunities for our community and supporters to help us succeed.

History & Service Area

We created our division in 2001 in response to the Humane Society Silicon Valley's notification that they could no longer continue providing shelter and field service contracts for Santa Clara County. With the completion of our Animal Care Center on Monterey Road in 2004, we continue to provide shelter and field services in San José, Cupertino, Milpitas, and Saratoga.

SHELTER STATISTICS AND DATA

We have an operating policy of transparency. We want all of our residents and contract cities to be able to access the statistics for the animal shelter that serves their community.

See how we compare on the Best Friends's Pet Lifesaving Dashboard. Find us on the list 

See below for a snapshot of our most current statistics. 

Interested in more data? Find our Statistics Dashboard here. 

In 2023, we commissioned the Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge report to inform the development of a plan to further our goal as an organization to model best practices and engage openly and compassionately with our residents and community partners. We continue to implement the recommendations found in this report.

Field Operations

This unit is sometimes referred to as Animal Control. This unit is comprised of dispatchers and animal service officers.

Our Dispatchers answer thousands of calls each year from people reporting or needing help with stray, injured, lost, dead, nuisance or dangerous animals. They then prioritize the calls and dispatch our Animal Service Officers to the location where they do their best to resolve the various situations that occur each day. Trained ASOs conduct the following field services:

• Enforce all animal control laws
• File bite reports and quarantine suspect animals
• Follow up on citizen complaints
• Investigate all reports of animal abuse
• Patrol the city on a daily basis
• Permit animal-related facilities
• Pick up stray animals
• Rescue animals in distress
• Respond to animal-related emergencies
• Transport injured or sick stray animals to receive emergency care (day or night)

Medical Operations

This unit is responsible for the health and medical care of all of the animals in the shelter. In addition, all of the adoption dogs, cats, and rabbits are spayed and neutered before being placed for adoptions. This unit is comprised of Veterinarians, Registered Veterinary Technicians, and Veterinary Assistants.

Trained veterinary staff conduct the following services:

• Provide basic health screening for all animals including a preventative disease control program
• Vaccinate domestic shelter animals against diseases
• Spay and neuter dogs, cats, and rabbits for adoptions
• Provide additional surgeries for treatable conditions for adoption animals
• Microchip dogs, cats, and rabbits for adoptions
• Perform a physical exam on all eligible animals
• Monitor the health of the animals in the shelter
• Provide forensics reports for animal abuse cases
• Support Low-Cost spay/neuter efforts

Shelter Operations

This unit responsible for the thousands of animals that are brought to the Animal Care Center by the public or our Field Operations Unit each year.

The unit is comprised of kennel and veterinary staff who work together to create an orderly and caring environment to best serve both the animals and the community.

Trained animal care personnel perform the following services:

• Provide food, water, shelter, enrichment, human contact, and a clean and comfortable environment for all shelter animals
• Adopt out adoptable pets after a stray hold has expired
• Reunite lost pets with their verified owners
• Provide adoption and behavior counseling
• Groom adoptable shelter animals
• Provide information and education on pet owner/guardian responsibility and care
• Maintain accurate records on the pets in our care
• Organize special adoption, volunteer, and donor events in collaboration with communications staff
• Manage the Foster Program including the Kitten Foster program.
• Manage relationships with Rescue Partners
• Manage the Community Cats program
• Recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers

Administrative Services

This unit is responsible for facilitating support for all units. Administrative staff perform a wide range of integral duties, including:

• Overseeing all financing, budgets, staffing, and databases
• Selling dog and cat licenses
• Providing customer service support
• Managing all communications to the public, including but not limited to press inquiries, webpages, and social media
• Publicizing and promoting adoptable pets, events, programs, and educational information
• Implementing specialized programs