Shelter unveils website upgrades, microchipping clinics and a Paw Finder app

IT staff and shelter leaders showcased recent technical and outreach changes intended to speed reunions and improve public access to shelter information.

Alex Smith of the city's IT department walked the group through the new shelter pages: a cruelty-report link on the front page, updated information on tethering and mandatory spay/neuter, separate pages for animals in the shelter and adoptable pets, and filters to sort animals by arrival time, species and other attributes. Smith said the system uploads new animals to the public site nearly in real time: “our website updates literally every five minutes,” he said.

Bricker and other shelter staff described operations changes: microchipping on intake for all animals, vaccination and microchip clinics in partnership with community organizations, and a recently awarded grant that will fund free vaccinations. Bricker also highlighted an AI-enabled matching tool (PECO Love Lost) that compares photos of lost pets to shelter intake images and sends matches to owners.

Volunteers and community members praised the improvements but flagged gaps. Several speakers asked that events and volunteer opportunities be kept current on the website (some event listings shown were more than a year old); advocates also urged a dedicated phone line for quick owner contact rather than routing through the general city help desk. Community volunteers offered to help with microchipping lookups and outreach but emphasized the need for clear protocols for sharing data and a contract if volunteers will access any city systems.

City staff said they will train shelter staff on website updates and explore adding direct links or buttons requested by users. The council asked staff to include operational metrics and comparative data in the packet for the committee meeting next week.

No ordinance decision was made during the demonstration portion of the meeting.