Euthanasia Procedures and Our Commitment to Lifesaving
Multnomah County Animal Services does not euthanize healthy and safe animals, or euthanize for space. Our shelter live-release rate is high, at 90%.
MCAS is dedicated to practices that lead to lifesaving, and we need the public’s help to adopt, to volunteer and foster, to raise awareness about pet licensing and microchipping, to use lost and found pet services, and to support our shelter and rescue transfer partners.
We are listening to the community and our volunteers, and value their input around next steps for our euthanasia procedures process and official document, which is currently under review.
The new euthanasia procedural document was developed to outline guidelines for the humane and responsible euthanasia of animals under care at Animal Services. It was designed to fill a gap in our procedural documents and provide clarity on how staff make decisions around ill or unsafe pets.
We focused on positive, affirming, and life-saving language to say what staff should do and not what they shouldn’t do. This is in keeping with best practices around euthanasia from local, regional and national experts.
Our Commitment to Lifesaving
Our commitment to lifesaving is established in the national and community standards that guide us.
The procedural document clarifies...
MCAS aligns its euthanasia policies, practices and decisions with the evolving standards set by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ (ASV) Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters, and community standards for medical and behavioral evaluation set by the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland (ASAP) according to Asilomar Accords categories.
This lifesaving commitment is also reflected in our reported outcomes and live-release-rate. The MCAS live-release rate for dogs has been consistently over 90% every year since 2013. We publish monthly intakes and outcomes at our shelter, including our live-release rate. We’re pleased with these results and how far we've come over time, but not satisfied.
What Does MCAS Do When Shelter Space is Limited?
If MCAS is in a situation where there are not readily available placement opportunities for healthy, behaviorally sound animals, euthanasia is not the solution we seek for this system issue.
MCAS tracks the daily shelter capacity, and if the shelter census is rising close to capacity criteria, we leverage our transfer network of shelters and rescues, adoption promotions and advertising, and foster homes as needed.
We’re pursuing all available leads for potential owners of found animals to reclaim them, posting found animals on our website, a network of found animal websites, and on social media.
We’re running regular specials to incentivize adoption and find positive outcomes for the animals in our care.
These systems are established, and they’re working, but we need your help to succeed!
We need the public’s help to adopt, to volunteer and foster, to raise awareness about pet licensing and microchipping, spay & neuter services, lost and found pet services, and to support our shelter and rescue transfer partners. These are all things you can do to help save lives at MCAS and in our community.
