Animal Foundation releasing hundreds of unsterilized dogs and cats a month

(Photo: April Corbin Girnus/Nevada Current)

Southern Nevada’s largest government funded animal shelter, the Animal Foundation, acknowledges it routinely releases foster animals that have not been sterilized, a practice that violates local laws and the shelter’s government contracts, which prohibit the placement of unsterilized animals older than four months. 

A list obtained by Nevada Voters for Animals indicates the Animal Foundation (TAF) released some 300 to 350 animals a month in May and June as fosters-to-adopt, a designation the shelter uses to transfer animals that are not sterilized, with a promise the foster parent will return the animal for surgery.

Last month, Las Vegas Councilwoman Victoria Seaman asked the Animal Foundation how many of the animals on the lists were sterilized before they were released from the shelter. 

TAF’s Chief Operating Officer Terran Tull responded via email that the shelter is ”unable to fulfill this request as it would require manually searching and verifying the sterilization status of each individual animal listed.” 

Tull went on to say the “overwhelming majority of animals released as fosters to adopt in the timeframe referenced were unaltered at the time of placement. This is, in fact, the purpose of the foster-to-adopt program. It was developed to alleviate the backlog in veterinary surgery access and to expedite getting animals into homes—especially when surgical appointments are limited or delayed.”

Since 2018, TAF sterilizations have dropped from 17,526 to 11,689 last year.

Animal activists contend the practice is flooding Southern Nevada with unsterilized animals, contributing  to an endless cycle that can result in unintended breeding. 

Bryce Henderson, founder of No Kill Las Vegas, a non-profit dedicated to stemming euthanasia at local shelters, maintains the Animal Foundation (TAF) is exploiting a loophole in the law by classifying the release of unsterilized animals as ‘foster-to-adopt” rather than adoptions. 

But the shelter’s contracts with Clark County, Las Vegas, and North Las Vegas say “TAF shall cause to be spayed or neutered in accordance with applicable law any cat or dog that is transferred by TAF to or is adopted by, any person or organization…” 

“The effective way to sterilize is when the dogs are in the shelter,” says Henderson. “That’s what the Animal Foundation used to do. Now they’re telling them ‘bring the dog back in a week and we’ll spay and neuter it.’ Half the people don’t come back.”

The shelter did not respond to requests for data on its foster-to-adopt sterilization efforts. 

Henderson, whose organization is suing TAF for allegedly violating its contracts, says he hopes to determine the spay and neuter status of the animals through the discovery process. “I want to know the real numbers. How many dogs are out there that are still unsterilized?” 

Southern Nevadans “gave TAF some grace because all their vets left and they couldn’t do spay and neuter,” Henderson says of a shelter shake up in 2022. Now, in addition to delaying surgery of adoptable animals, TAF is no longer operating its Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic, which is still advertised to the public on its website. 

Shelter officials say they’re attempting to get animals out of the overcrowded shelter and into homes quicker, in an effort to make room for more dogs and cats. 

“Our shelter is caring for over 1,000 animals, and we’re facing the heartbreaking possibility of euthanizing for space,” says a message posted on TAF’s website in May. Last year the shelter put down 2,047 dogs and 1,271 cats.

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said TAF is down to seven veterinarians from nine. She noted that shelters nationally are struggling with a shortage of medical services.  

“It would be very helpful if rather than making accusations, that people would kindly propose solutions for the challenges at TAF,” Berkley wrote via email, noting that “during the summer months there’s extreme overcrowding due to abandonment, abuse and neglect of animals.”

Clark County, she added, “is planning to build an auxiliary animal shelter, but at this moment, there is nothing else in the Las Vegas Valley.” 

Shelter critics contend TAF’s refusal to provide the information is an indication the shelter lacks the ability to easily determine which animals in foster care have not been sterilized.

“Most of our community partners are utilizing the same approach because all of us are facing similar spay/neuter bottlenecks,” Tull wrote in her email to Seaman, adding even private veterinarians “are often booked out for weeks or months and may advise clients to delay sterilization beyond what local law prescribes.”

The policy, she said, “aligns with the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Guidelines, which allow animals to be released with a firmly scheduled sterilization appointment when immediate surgery is not feasible. This is a recognized and lifesaving practice intended to minimize in-shelter length of stay, reduce overcrowding, and prevent euthanasia due to capacity constraints.”

But the ASV’s endorsement of foster-to-adopt arrangements comes with caveats: 

• Shelters should sterilize all animals before adoption or ensure they will be sterilized after; 
• Shelters performing post-adoption sterilization must have a system for tracking unaltered animals and ensuring surgery is completed in a timely manner; 
• Foster programs must have sufficient personnel to provide support to caregivers and animals;
• Records must be maintained for animals in foster care;
• And, animals in foster care must be regularly assessed by shelter personnel with decision making ability 

Foster-to-adopt arrangements have become increasingly common since the pandemic, when shelters put spay and neuter requirements on hold in order to facilitate adoptions and reduce the use of personal protective equipment. 

Not all shelters have retained the policy. 

“The City of Henderson does not release unsterilized animals to the public under foster-to-adopt arrangements. All animals adopted through our shelter are spayed or neutered prior to adoption, in alignment with our commitment to responsible pet ownership and population management,” a city spokeswoman said, adding the animals too young to undergo surgery are the only exception. “In those cases, animals are placed into our internal foster program, which is limited to City employees and registered City volunteers.”

The Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) engages in fostering to adopt “mostly for kittens and puppies,” says Executive Director Lori Heeren. “Foster-to-Adopt programs can be very successful to reduce pet homelessness if they are managed well, especially with millions of government dollars to utilize.” 

Clark County taxpayers alone spend more than $10 million a year supporting TAF.

The NSPCA’s foster department “is organized and vigilant about getting the animals back for their spay and neuter surgeries.” The shelter calls in Animal Control and the police to track down wayward foster parents, Heeren says, as “the animal is still our property.” 

TAF, by contrast, sends a letter.

Henderson of No Kill Las Vegas, says he doesn’t “want dogs to get killed because the shelter claims they didn’t have time to spay or neuter it,” but adds the shelter’s policy is “a serious disservice to the community and all the rescues out here that are scraping by, picking up after their bullshit.”

TAF, he adds, is not adhering to the standards embraced by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, and its failure to enforce the agreements is exacerbating the already sisyphean effort to reduce overpopulation  

A Las Vegas woman who asked not to be named for fear of being excluded from fostering for  TAF, says it took nine months for the shelter to inquire about an unsterilized dog she began fostering last October. 

“We’d love to hear how (the dog) is doing in foster care, and also would like to know if there is anything we can do to advise or support you,” said an email from TAF, dated July 6, the first communication she’s had from the shelter. “We would like to know if you are interested in adopting your foster animal or if you have found an adopter for your foster animal. Either way, please let us know!” 

The woman, who responded she wanted to adopt the dog, received another email a week later instructing her to make an appointment for surgery. “I told them I had my vet do it months ago.”