A previous assessment of the Danville animal shelter made a host of recommendations to make improvements and reduce the euthanasia numbers. Some were implemented, and some were not, according to Paulette Dean, the shelter director.
Danville is planning to conduct a new and more comprehensive assessment of local animal services, including the shelter, which has been embroiled in controversy for years. The planned assessment will also evaluate animal control, public health responsibilities and other animal services in the city.
The Danville Area Humane Society was last assessed in 2021 by the Virginia Alliance of Animal Shelters.
That assessment identified the strengths and weaknesses at the shelter, and made recommendations for improvement. It evaluated the physical facility, staffing, general operations, animal health and veterinary care, adoptions, transfers and euthanasia.
“Virtually every recommendation we have made ties back to reducing the euthanasia of animals,” the assessment document states.
The shelter’s euthanasia rates have been consistently far above state averages. In 2025, the shelter euthanized 59% of the animals in its care, while the state rate was only 9%.
The shelter has been criticized for its high euthanasia rates for years, and recently, controversy has revolved around recordkeeping, adoption policies and a microchip mistake that led to the death of a beloved dog, who was euthanized.
The recommended improvements included using digital recordkeeping rather than handwritten records, upgrades to spaces in the physical shelter, operating hours that are more conducive to adopters, strengthening foster programs and increasing community outreach.
Some of those recommendations were implemented — like physical improvements to the shelter — and some were not, said Dean, who has been shelter director since 1992.
City Manager Ken Larking said that the upcoming assessment will take a broader view of the city’s animal services.
“The city has responsibilities beyond the animal shelter when it comes to animals. So I think that it’s important that we do a comprehensive review,” he said. “It’s an entire ecosystem.”
The city plans to put out a request for proposals to select a vendor, although there is no concrete timeline on this process yet.
Past recommendations for reducing euthanasia numbers
The previous assessment was conducted by two members of the Virginia Alliance of Animal Shelters, Sharon Adams, who is the executive director, and Kathy Strouse.
Dean is a co-founder and current secretary of this organization, though she did not participate in executing the assessment. Dean said she reached out to Adams to conduct the assessment.
“Sharon Adams and Kathy Strouse have been colleagues for many years,” Dean said in a text message last week. “Sharon has gone into several other shelters for assessments or to help them. Rather than an ‘assessment,’ I considered it an opportunity to get new eyes on what we do and how we do it.”
The Virginia Alliance of Animal Shelters conducted the assessment for free, Dean said, and the shelter paid for lodging, travel expenses and meals for Adams and Strouse.
Overall, the assessment found that the shelter was in line with Virginia code and “striving to meet the significant needs of both its community and wider region.”
The assessment does not criticize the shelter’s open-intake policy, which means that it accepts every animal, regardless of space constraints or the animal’s health and adoptability. Euthanasia rates are usually higher at open-intake shelters than at limited-intake shelters, which can and do turn away animals.
Dean has remained staunchly committed to the open-intake policy, saying there is nowhere else for animals to go if they’re turned away.
“An open-admission shelter will always receive animals which are deemed unadoptable and compassionate euthanasia will be the most humane decision,” the assessment states. “As long as restricting the intake of animals is not an option … every other mitigation and effort must be utilized to find the adoptable animals a home.”
Increasing adoptions and transfers is a successful way to reduce euthanasias, the assessment states, and it found that the shelter “engages in many activities” that promote both.
“Every interview with employees and volunteers consistently reflected a desire to and a focus on adopting the animals in the shelter,” it states.
However, residents have called the shelter’s adoption policies into question, saying that it’s much easier to adopt at other shelters. Residents like Donna Kaye said they were denied adoption at the Danville shelter but approved at the shelter in Pittsylvania County.
Adams and Strouse interviewed potential adopters, who said that kennel staff had left during their visit, so there was no one to introduce animals or answer questions.
“This lack of customer care may negatively impact adoptions,” the assessment states.
It recommended adjusting the shelter’s operating hours to be more available to potential adopters.
According to its website, the shelter is open from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Adoption areas are closed on Wednesdays, and the shelter is closed on Sundays.
Many Virginia shelters are open at least one evening during the week, which makes it convenient for the public to visit, the assessment states. Adoptions will be lower “when shelters are only open at the same time that a majority of their potential adopters are at work.”
The shelter has not implemented this recommendation, and Dean said it’s because “evening hours have never been successful for us,” in an August text message.
Recommendations for improving operations
Many of the recommendations included in the assessment focus on improving shelter operations, like recordkeeping and physical spaces.
One of the assessment’s strongest recommendations was to move from handwritten to digital recordkeeping. Until this year, all intake forms, euthanasia logs, medication dosages and other records at the shelter were kept by hand.
“Such systems remove redundancy and enhance accuracy,” the assessment states. “Such a transition will demonstrate that DAHS is a modern, professional animal shelter dedicated to customer service, adoptions and return of lost animals to owners.”
All 2026 records are now on a computer, Dean said.
In June, the shelter was penalized for recordkeeping inaccuracies by the Virginia Board of Pharmacies, which found that the shelter violated state code in failing to maintain proper records for animals that were euthanized.
Another concern highlighted in the assessment was the number of animals dropped off at the outside drop box, which can be used when the shelter is closed.
The assessment questions whether the drop box prevents those who are surrendering animals from talking to shelter staff about potential solutions that would allow them to keep their pet.
And the animals surrendered in the drop box are usually left with little or no information about them. This is a disadvantage when it comes to adoption.
“The shelter has less information [about these animals] than would be satisfactory for most adopters,” it states, suggesting that the shelter review this policy.
Dean said the drop box is still used, primarily by animal control and police. The shelter has considered removing it, but they’ve had people drop off animals in crates or carriers outside the front door, she said.
“We believe the drop off room is safer,” she said in a text. “Employees have an on-call schedule and I call them at all hours to take the animals inside if people or the police call me.”
Another recommendation involved making physical improvements to the shelter. The assessment found that flooring and cages in the dog kennel were deteriorating and needed replacement.
The configuration of the kennel “puts enormous stress on the dogs,” because they are too close to one another with no noise mitigation and no natural light, the assessment states.
“While we know this is an expensive suggestion, we strongly feel a goal should be to replace the kennel with a larger space,” the assessment states.
The change would improve the quality of life for dogs at the shelter and be more inviting to potential adopters, it said. The assessment listed grant opportunities that could fund this project.
“Updating the animal areas is constantly happening,” Dean said. “We are currently spending about $45,000 of donation money to upgrade nine dog runs in the oldest part of the shelter. City funds aren’t being used.”
In 2024, the city announced that it would fund a project to expand the shelter’s isolation areas for puppies and kittens. Larking said that moving forward with this project would likely wait until after the upcoming comprehensive assessment is finished.
Plans for upcoming assessment
Larking said that after a request for proposals is issued, there will be a selection process to hire a third-party, independent vendor to conduct the assessment, which will be specific to Danville’s needs rather than “a cookie-cutter” solution.
This will be the first assessment of the shelter and other animal services conducted by the city, he said. It was prompted by community interest in local animal welfare.
“The time is right to understand what our roles and responsibilities are, and also what the community expects of us,” Larking said.
When a vendor is selected, there will be a more concrete project schedule and timeline, he said. The vendor will make recommendations, which the city will work to implement, alongside the shelter, animal control, public health and other groups.
After Dean pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulently altering or destroying public records while serving in a different position, Larking said the assessment will also take that into consideration.
Dean was formerly the city’s humane investigator, a role that works with police and the court system to investigate animal neglect and cruelty cases.
In July, Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Newman filed a court motion to remove her from the position after records she submitted to the Danville Police Department “did not appear to contain accurate information,” according to the motion.
She resigned later that day. She remains director of the animal shelter.
In an interview after the Aug. 28 hearing, Larking said that the contract between the city and the shelter is still “in good standing.”
It’s too early in the process to say how much the assessment would cost, he said, though “it’s more important to get it right than it is to worry about saving a few bucks.”
The process will likely start with the city’s legal responsibilities, which are protecting the health and safety of the community, he said.
There will be community input and public education opportunities for the assessment once a vendor is selected, he said.
When it comes to the shelter, the assessment will evaluate operations, the physical facility and programming.
“I’m sure that whoever we hire will take a look at past assessment and see where they stood and why some things were implemented and some things weren’t,” Larking said. “It could be a lack of funding, it could be a lack of people.”
The community also bears a responsibility when it comes to shelter intake, since high intake is part of the euthanasia issue at the shelter, he said. If residents spay and neuter animals, the total local animal population will decrease, which may lower intake at the shelter, he said.
“That’s why it needs to be comprehensive, because if this was just a shelter problem, it would just be looking at the operations of the shelter. But I’m not aware that cats and dogs are having kittens and puppies inside the shelter,” Larking said. “I think the ability to achieve the results that some want to achieve is highly dependent on the community’s ability to do it.”
