Our Statistics

Understanding the Numbers and Statistics

Sacramento County's Bradshaw Animal Shelter is a municipal animal shelter and one of the largest animal shelters in Northern California. Our shelter serves as a safety net for stray pets and we accept all lost, abandoned, mistreated, homeless, sick, injured, and orphaned animals from the community, including farm animals, exotic animals, and native wildlife. We accept animals regardless of their temperament or medical condition​.

Many other shelters differ from ours in that they are called limited admission shelters or are sometimes called “no-kill" shelters, which means they have the ability to refuse any type of homeless animal from their community, particularly those that may be difficult to place.

Bradshaw Animal Shelter does not identify as a “no-kill" shelter as this term can be misleading. By definition, no-kill means 90% of the animals that come into the shelter have a positive outcome, also known as the live release rate. In more recent years, “no-kill" has shifted in definition to a place where all healthy and treatable animals are saved. Our shelter will only use means of humane euthanasia when an animal requires medical treatment beyond our ability to provide or when an animal has unmanageable behavior that presents a safety concern to potential adopters or the community; to themselves; or to other pets, staff, or volunteers at the shelter. These animals will be offered to our rescue partners, but unfortunately, they are not always accepted. 

Our life-saving success is due to our dedicated staff and the ongoing support of our rescue partners. Our rescue partners help us improve our success rate by finding suitable temporary and/or permanent homes for every pet possible. Likewise, our devoted volunteers work tirelessly to socialize animals in the shelter, to reunite lost pets with their owners/guardians, to transport animals to rescue partners near and far, to foster animals in their homes, and to assist individuals looking to add a new family member.

Monthly statistics can be seen in the left-hand column below. Archived annual statistics can be seen in the right-hand column. 

Please note that these numbers are accurate on the date they are pulled and released. However, certain factors like an adoption return can alter the numbers in the future. If you have any questions about our statistics, please contact us at countyanimalcare@saccounty.net.​

Annual Statistics

Please contact us if you have questions about these or any of the shelter numbers.