Local officials are touting Riverside County’s progress toward becoming a no-kill community for pets after the county saw the biggest drop in shelter pet euthanasia in the nation last year.
Data from Best Friends Animal Society showed that Riverside County achieved a 50.6% reduction in shelter pets euthanized in 2025 versus 2024, Supervisor V. Manuel Perez’s office said Friday. A total of 1,700 dogs and 860 cats were saved in the county last year, officials said.
The Riverside County Department of Animal Services annual report also showed a 13% increase in animals adopted out of the shelters in 2025.
“These amazing results speak to all the work done to improve animal care in Riverside County,” Perez said. “Thank you to the Department of Animal Services staff for your efforts. We still have work to do and I am proud of this progress.”
In May 2025, the county Board of Supervisors passed Resolution No. 2025-133, co-written by Perez and Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez, committing Riverside County to becoming a no-kill community for shelter animals.
Agency Director Mary Martin recently pointed to programs and campaigns implemented in 2025 that have put the county on track to achieve a 90% pet life preservation rate in the county’s four shelters.
Some of the programs have included elimination of most adoption fees — with the exception of dog licenses, which generally run $25 or less — “life flights” of large numbers of canines that nonprofit organizations pay to transport to shelters across the United States for adoption, pet fostering, expanded hours at most shelters and expedited “trap-neuter-return-to-field” programs for cats.
The county is among the nation’s largest pet intake centers. Last year, more than 29,000 dogs and cats were impounded, in addition to 5,000 other animals, including livestock and wildlife.
Officials said 17,349 spay/neuter surgeries were carried out in 2025. Adoptions went up 13%, and roughly 3,200 pets were successfully reclaimed by their owners after being impounded.
The gains resulted in an 82% “live release rate” for canines, and a 73% rate for cats last year, according to the agency.
“We’re making real progress toward a 90% release rate and a `No-Kill County,”’ Perez said earlier. “With ongoing community support — through adoption, fostering, volunteering and responsible pet ownership — we can save even more lives together.”
The no-kill effort dovetails with a reformation initiated by the board after one organization alleged that the county had the highest pet kill rate in the nation.
In 2024, the board hired Austin, Texas-based Outcomes for Pets LLC Principal Adviser Kristen Hassen to rectify problems within the agency, and in February 2025, the supervisors approved the Executive Office’s selection of Martin to head the department following a nationwide executive recruitment drive.