CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city's Animal Care Services facility is releasing more dogs and cats than ever before to new owners. The director of the department wants to see that trend to continue by adding a new full-time live release coordinator.
Although Animal Care Services does not have someone solely dedicated to getting animals adopted or rescued, there has been progress made within the past year. During that time, the live release rate has increased from 80 to 87 percent.
Mike Gillis, director of Animal Care Services, says the addition of a live release coordinator would improve those numbers even more.
"This person's responsibilities will be coordinating with the over 150 rescues that we are partnered with," Gillis explained to KRIS 6 News. "They will be focusing on adoptions, adoption events. They will be working with customers to make sure, hopefully, we have the best pairing of pets and people as possible."
Gillis is confident the position will lead to fewer humane euthanizations at the facility.
"My goal here is to reach a 90 percent live release rate. In some communities, that is their mandate for no-kill -- to be a minimum -- and that is the standard across the nation," Gillis said.
If approved, this position would be part of a $100,000 budget increase for Animal Care Services. Gillis is also asking for funding for another full-time kennel worker and vector control.
