[NOTE: The Worth Watching category lists communities whose animal shelter systems are doing substantially better than average, but have not reported a sustained (for one year or more) 90%+ live release rate. These communities are not counted in the running total in the blog’s subtitle. For more about the Worth Watching category, see the Worth Watching page link in the blog’s header.]
Santa Paula is a city of about 30,000 people located in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, California. In March of 2012, a non-profit called the Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center was formed for the purpose of saving the city’s stray and surrendered pets. The shelter accepts strays and owner surrenders from city residents, with a small fee to relinquish an animal.
The shelter states on its website that it does not kill any “healthy adoptable animal . . . due to lack of space or time spent at the shelter.” I was not able to find statistics for the shelter’s first year in operation either on the shelter’s website or in publicly available news reports. Therefore, I am listing the shelter as “Worth Watching” rather than a 90%+ community.