An update from Steve Kozachik, PACC Director
Vol. 1, No. 30 - July 14, 2025
Better together
The dogs-in-kennel count for PACC has been at or over 500 for the past several weeks. Since I began last December, that daily census has rarely been below 475. We’re playing the hand that the community has dealt us; without spaying/neutering, vaccinating, confining, microchipping and licensing we’re simply going to be overrun with dogs. Addressing that is where partnerships come into the picture.
Working in the animal welfare area cannot be a competition. While PACC is the only open-admission shelter in all of Pima County, we cannot manage our dog population in a vacuum. We need adopters, fosters, volunteers to help manage the shelter, and we need the assistance of shelter and rescue partners to help find great homes for our pups.
Recently my admissions team and I partnered with the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in hosting a luncheon to which we invited rescues. This is a photo of the event – a great turnout for a Sunday afternoon.
 There were roughly 45 people in attendance representing about 15 different rescues. This was the first time ever that PACC and HSSA co-hosted an event of this nature. And it was a long time coming. While we have different obligations when it comes to shelter management, we’re both navigating in the same challenging over-population waters. Having the opportunity to share our respective policies and to hear from the rescues how we can make their part of managing that more efficient was good for all involved to hear. Also in attendance were our Friends Pet Clinic staff. Having us all in the same room for the four-hour exchange was a first – and it was important. From PACC’s perspective, we will be doing more of these rescue roundtables.
Some rescues are breed-specific. Others may have that in their title but in fact assist us in finding homes for all types of dogs. At PACC we are hiring a couple of staffers who will be dedicated to working as rescue points of contact. We’re expecting that will help streamline our work with the rescues, with the ultimate goal of finding homes for dogs, easing up the over-populated kennels and making the remaining dogs even more adoptable.
I’m grateful to the staff at HSSA for the partnership. And of course having the new Friends Pet Clinic is going to be a key piece to easing stress on both the PACC and HSSA clinic workload. Together we’re better, and the rescue luncheon was a great step in that direction.
With thanks,
Steve Kozachik, PACC Director
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