Animal Care and Regulation

Sacramento County's Bradshaw Animal Shelter is an open admission shelter. This means our shelter accepts all lost, abandoned, mistreated, homeless, sick, injured, orphaned, and unwanted animals from the community, including farm animals, exotic animals, and native wildlife. Every animal brought to our door is welcome, regardless of 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 and where only unhealthy & untreatable animals are euthanized. Our shelter follows this policy, and 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. These animals will be offered to our rescue partners, but unfortunately, they are not always accepted. 

Our live release rates below are calculated based on the number of animals entering the shelter alive that leave the shelter alive and are significantly higher than the national average of 35%. This 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. 

The follow​ing definitions will help you understand our monthly statistics in the right-hand column below.

1. Incoming: This number represents the total number of live animals that have come into the shelter in the past month. 
   
2. Adopted: This is the number of animals adopted during the month. 
   
3. Returned to Owner: This is the number of animals that are reclaimed by their owners. 
   

To view a list of archived statistics, please visit our Statistics Archive​​. 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.