Data Reveals What Animal Control Officers Really Do

Shelter Animals Count and the National Animal Care & Control Association collaborated to produce the first-ever national report on animal control field services data in the United States. Historically, this type of data hasn’t been widely collected or reported at a national level, despite the essential role that field services play in public safety, community engagement, and animal welfare operations. The report’s goal is to lay the groundwork for a shared framework that will lead to data standardization across field services nationwide.

The report draws on two datasets. The first is national data from Shelter Animals Count’s 2023 and 2024 annual reports and 2025 mid-year report, which cover national totals for field services intakes and outcomes. This includes animal-level data that breaks down whether stray animals were brought in by the public, by animal control officers, or through other means.

The second dataset comes from Shelterluv, an animal management software platform used by shelters and animal control agencies across the country. This dataset covers 143 de-identified organizations and 344,084 recorded activities across 35 U.S. states, spanning January 2023 to June 2025. Activities refer to any field services call, case, action, or resolution.

Insights From Shelter Animals Count

The Shelter Animals Count data reveals that dogs were nearly three times more likely than cats to be brought in by animal control officers (29% versus 10%), while cats were more often brought in by the public (50% versus 38%). Age patterns differed sharply between species: the majority of stray dogs were adults, especially those brought in by animal control officers (70%). Cats, conversely, skewed much younger. Around two-thirds (66%) of stray cats arriving through public drop-off were kittens under five months of age.

Insights From Shelterluv

Within the Shelterluv dataset, there are four field services categories:

1. Quality-of-life (60% of activities): Covers community concerns such as excessive barking, roaming animals, overpopulation, animal waste, and deceased animals
2. Public safety (22% of activities): Relates to critical risks like aggressive behavior, bites, and animals deemed dangerous, potentially dangerous, or vicious
3. Welfare (11% of activities): Concerns the physical and mental well-being of animals, including situations such as tethered animals and suspected cruelty or neglect
4. Other (6% of activities): Includes activities that can’t be classified within the first three categories due to incomplete, inconclusive, or undefined data

Quality-Of-Life

Just over half (51%) of quality-of-life calls were related to stray or at-large animals. Close to a quarter (23%) resulted in community services such as providing pet food, behavioral support, or medical assistance, while 15% mainly involved barking dog complaints and inspections and 3% involved community cat programming. The remainder (15%) weren’t detailed enough to categorize.

Nearly a third (33%) of quality-of-life activities were completed without legal action, achieving compliance through means such as education. Around 19% of calls resulted in the animal being taken to a shelter, while a further 19% were unsuccessful because the animal couldn’t be located or caught. Formal enforcement measures were used sparingly, with warnings and citations representing only 5% and 1% of outcomes.

Public Safety

The largest share of public safety calls (37%) involved assisting police, fire, and emergency medical services personnel. Aggressive strays (29%) and bite incidents (22%) also amounted to a significant portion of calls. Around 11% were related to enforcement of leash laws and 2% to investigations of animal attacks.

Resolving public safety calls most often resulted in officers being unable to locate or catch the animal (26%), and 20% led to a shelter intake. While 14% involved a warning or notice being issued, citations were low at only 3% of cases.

Welfare

Over half of welfare cases (57%) consisted of welfare checks regarding living conditions, while nearly a third (28%) involved cruelty or neglect. Around 16% were dedicated to in-depth investigations, primarily concerning abandonment. Even so, 38% of cases were settled without legal action through service provision like education, and formal citations were rare (2%). Roughly 10% of welfare activities resulted in a shelter intake.

Multiple Interactions

Out of the 344,084 recorded activities in the Shelterluv database, 124,940 were connected to specific animals. Of these, 70% involved one-time interactions and the remaining 30% were recurring cases. First-time interactions typically involved stray animals (32%), while multiple interactions often signaled a need for support: at the time of their fourth interaction with field services, over half (51%) of animals were provided pet food and supplies. Citations were still remarkably low at 2% of first and 3% of subsequent interactions.

Limitations

The report highlights a lack of consistency in the underlying Shelter Animals Count data, with 33% of dog and 41% of cat stray intakes being classified as “Other” because of the variability in how contributing organizations record intakes. It’s also important to note that the type of organization, such as a municipal shelter, private shelter, or rescue, wasn’t available for the Shelterluv data analysis, so the findings reflect overall field services activity rather than differences between organization types.

The Path Forward

This report is a significant step forward for animal advocates, shelter professionals, and anyone working to improve the lives of companion animals in communities across the country. The findings make clear that animal control is far more than enforcement. Officers spend the majority of their time resolving situations through education, outreach, and support rather than issuing citations. Field services agencies are evolving into community resource providers, a shift with implications for how advocates think about funding, programming, and partnerships. Quality-of-life calls, which make up 60% of all activity, function as an early warning system for broader community trends, including gaps in access to companion animal resources, neighborhood safety concerns, and areas where proactive outreach could prevent shelter intake. Species-specific programming is another clear priority: the high volume of kittens arriving through public drop-off points to the need for kitten-specific care, foster programs, and community education and resources.

At the same time, the report’s limitations are themselves a call to action. The high proportion of stray intakes classified as “Other” and the absence of organization-type information all constrain what can be concluded from these datasets. Advocates have an important role to play in pushing for data standardization because better data means better-resourced, prevention-focused field services for animals and the communities they live in.