Following a 5-2 vote, the Riverside City Council approved a $16.8 million dollar animal services agreement on Nov. 18, 2025. The three-year service agreement will run through the 2025-26 fiscal year until 2027-28. It aims to improve the quality of shelter life, encourages adoption, reduces euthanasia rates, helps reunite owners with pets before they enter the shelter system and helps to cover the rising costs for operations.
The agreement was brought before the Riverside City Council after the Riverside County shelters have been struggling to keep up with the demand for shelter and a data report dating back to May 2025 noted that Riverside County Department of Animal Services (RCDAS) has been experiencing over 220% capacity across its shelter locations. As a result of overcapacity, euthanasia rates have creeped up to 37% for dogs and cats, which animal activists claim is the highest in the entire country.
The new agreement seeks to lower these rates through preventative care services including asking veterinarians to expand free spay and neuter services ranging from three to five per month, expanding vaccination programs and introducing a pet microchipping initiative.
Most notably among the bunch is the microchipping initiative which seeks to partner with the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center to place microchip scanners in local libraries throughout the county in an effort to reunite pets with their owners before they enter the shelter system.
A similar program was implemented in Albuquerque, New Mexico and saw a 6.5% overall drop in shelter intake as well as a 17% increase in reunification before entering the shelter system, holding a promising future for the $816,000 funding that was appropriated towards this pilot program.
In addition to these preventative care approaches, Riverside County has worked towards increasing adoption rates by partnering with RCDAS to increase community adoption events. Two notable events are held at the renowned Festival of Lights on Dec. 4 and 18 in Riverside, as well as the Riverside County Fair and Date Festival held in Indio from Feb. 15–17, Feb. 22–23 and March 1–2.
Turning to the dissenting council members Chuck Condor and Phillip Falcone, they found concerns with the increased cost of the program and the language utilized in the contract itself. It should be noted that while Falcone stated that he is supportive of the transition towards implementing no-kill shelters, but his “struggle is the city paying for something that should be purely in the space of the county to pay for.”
Councilmember Jim Perry joined his fellow council members when he stated he “can’t remember a time when government entities started charging one another for services, especially before something has even started.” The city’s leading management analyst – Diana Platto – countered by stating that the contract was “a standard template that the county had shared with every city.”
The mandated monthly meetings seek to share shelter data with the public, which helps in demonstrating the effectiveness of these new service implementations. Additionally, bi-weekly volunteer briefings aim to inform volunteers about new initiatives, as well as fostering community engagement.
Overall, the new services aim to address ongoing shelter overcapacity in the county, with an initiative to transition to no-kill shelters, but its cost and contract language has roused concern among Riverside City councilmembers. The public will have access to shelter data, which will help determine the effectiveness of the $16.8 million contract.
