---
title: "NC Animal Shelter Statistics 2025: Euthanasia Rate by County"
description: "NC shelters took in 150,784 dogs and cats in 2025 and euthanized 39,202 (26.0%). Every reporting county's intake, adoptions and euthanasia rate."
url: https://ncpetproject.org/nc-county-shelter-report/
---

![A row of kennel runs with welded-wire fronts in a North Carolina county shelter, two dogs looking out from the nearest run](https://ncpetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/nc-county-shelter-report-hero.webp)

[Guides](https://ncpetproject.org/blog/) [NC Pet Overpopulation](https://ncpetproject.org/category/nc-crisis/)

# NC Animal Shelter Statistics 2025: A County-by-County Report

NC shelters took in 150,784 dogs and cats in 2025 and euthanized 39,202 (26.0%). Every reporting county's intake, adoptions and euthanasia rate.

By [Jake St. Peter](https://ncpetproject.org/about/#jake-st-peter) Updated November 12, 2026 25 min read

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On this page

1.  [What North Carolina’s 2025 Shelter Numbers Actually Say](#what-north-carolina-s-2025-shelter-numbers-actually-say)
2.  [Where These Numbers Come From, and What the Law Requires](#where-these-numbers-come-from-and-what-the-law-requires)
3.  [Thirty-Four Counties Are Missing From the File](#missing-counties)
4.  [The Counties With the Highest Euthanasia Rates](#the-counties-with-the-highest-euthanasia-rates)
5.  [The Counties With the Lowest Euthanasia Rates](#the-counties-with-the-lowest-euthanasia-rates)
6.  [Cats Are Dying at a Much Higher Rate Than Dogs](#cats-are-dying-at-a-much-higher-rate-than-dogs)
7.  [What Sheltering Costs North Carolina Taxpayers](#what-sheltering-costs-north-carolina-taxpayers)
8.  [The Prevention Money Runs Out Every Single Quarter](#the-prevention-money-runs-out-every-single-quarter)
9.  [Did 2025 Get Better or Worse Than 2024?](#did-2025-get-better-or-worse-than-2024)
10.  [How to Read Your Own County’s Numbers](#how-to-read-your-own-county-s-numbers)
11.  [What Would Actually Change These Numbers](#what-would-actually-change-these-numbers)
12.  [The Full County Table: All 65 Reporting Counties](#the-full-county-table-all-65-reporting-counties)
13.  [Why Are Some Counties Missing?](#why-are-some-counties-missing)
14.  [Sources](#sources)

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North Carolina’s public animal shelters reported taking in **150,784 dogs and cats** during calendar year 2025. They adopted out 73,540 of them, returned 15,763 to their owners, and euthanized **39,202**. That is 26.0 percent of every dog and cat that came through a reporting shelter door, or roughly one in four. Many of the animals still waiting are listed, shelter by shelter, on our [100-County Pet List](https://ncpetproject.org/adopt/).

![A red brick county courthouse with white columns stands on a quiet North Carolina town square in autumn, leaves scattered across the sidewalk.](https://ncpetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/nc-county-shelter-report-courthouse-autumn.webp)

Those totals come from a single state file, and that file is the only statewide animal shelter accounting North Carolina produces. It is also incomplete, still open to late filings, and harder to read than it should be. This post publishes the county-level numbers pulled directly from it, explains exactly what the file does and does not capture, and names every county missing from the state’s file.

> **TL;DR:** Across 65 reporting counties, NC shelters handled 150,784 dogs and cats in 2025 and euthanized 39,202 (26.0 percent). Cats died at a far higher rate than dogs, 29.3 percent against 22.7 percent. Among counties handling at least 750 dogs and cats, euthanasia rates ranged from 2.2 percent in [Stanly County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/stanly/) to 62.0 percent in [Johnston County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/johnston/). Reporting shelters spent $67.1 million, a median of $381 per animal, and spending did not predict outcomes. Thirty-four of North Carolina’s 100 counties are missing from the file entirely, including Wake, Forsyth, Iredell and Catawba. Meanwhile [the state spay/neuter fund covered only about a third](https://ncpetproject.org/nc-spay-neuter-funding/) of eligible reimbursement requests in the first half of 2026. [Sign the petition](https://ncpetproject.org/take-action/) to fund prevention at the scale the intake numbers demand.

*Updated October 27, 2026: added [Wake County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/wake/)’s own 2025 dog and cat numbers, which the county sent us in answer to a public records request, and rebuilt the 2024 comparison on the state’s October 12 file, so it now covers the 55 counties that reported in both years. On October 14 this report switched to that replaced file, which added Chatham and Dare counties.*

![A small metal-roofed county animal services building with outdoor chain-link dog runs and a white county pickup on the gravel lot, farm fields behind at golden hour](https://ncpetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/nc-county-shelter-report-rural-animal-services.webp)

## What North Carolina’s 2025 Shelter Numbers Actually Say

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services collects an annual report from every county and city animal shelter that receives state or local funding. The 2025 calendar-year edition was first posted on July 27, 2026. The state replaced it on October 12, 2026, adding Chatham and Dare counties, though its reports page still labels the file “As of 7.27.26.” Counties that file late may still be added. It now covers 66 counties, and 65 of those counties reported usable dog and cat numbers.

Two things about that scope are worth fixing in your head before you read a single number. The file is not a census of North Carolina animal sheltering. It is a census of the shelters that filed a form, which is a smaller and shifting group from one year to the next. And it counts far more than dogs and cats: shelters reported rabbits, goats, chickens, guinea pigs, horses, bats, raccoons, opossums and foxes, among dozens of other species. Wildlife intake in particular skews an untrained reading of the file badly, because animals like bats and raccoons are almost always euthanized for rabies testing, and including them inflates a county’s apparent kill rate for reasons that have nothing to do with pets.

Every figure in this report is therefore restricted to dogs and cats, aggregated from the individual facility lines rather than from any summary the state publishes. Where a county runs more than one reporting facility, the facilities are combined into a single county row.

Here is the whole state, as reported, in one table. Every figure below is a sum of the individual facility lines in the state file, not an estimate.

| 2025 calendar year, reporting counties | Dogs | Cats | Both | Share of intake |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Intake** | 75,521 | 75,263 | **150,784** | 100% |
| Adopted out | 34,995 | 38,545 | 73,540 | 48.8% |
| Returned to owner | 13,357 | 2,406 | 15,763 | 10.5% |
| **Euthanized** | 17,140 | 22,062 | **39,202** | **26.0%** |
| Not broken out by the state form | 10,029 | 12,250 | 22,279 | 14.8% |

Source: NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report, file replaced October 12, 2026. Totals computed across 65 counties reporting dog or cat data.

Read that last row carefully, because it is the single most important caveat in the entire dataset. The state form asks for four outcomes: intake, adopted out, returned to owner, and destroyed. It does not ask how many animals were transferred to a rescue partner, died in care, were reclaimed by a finder, or were still in the building on December 31. So 22,279 animals, about 15 percent of everything that came in, simply do not appear in any outcome column.

Most of those 22,279 were almost certainly transferred to rescues and adopted somewhere else, which is a good outcome. But because the form does not capture it, nobody can compute a true live release rate for a North Carolina county from this file. [Cherokee County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/cherokee/) illustrates the trap perfectly: it reports 1,645 intakes and only 43 euthanasias, a 2.6 percent euthanasia rate, but its four reported outcomes account for under half its intake. A naive live release calculation would make Cherokee look like one of the worst counties in the state when its euthanasia number is one of the best. The honest metric this file supports is the reported euthanasia share, and that is the metric used throughout this post.

## Where These Numbers Come From, and What the Law Requires

The reporting requirement is statutory, not voluntary. [G.S. 19A-65](https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_19A/GS_19A-65.html) requires every county or city animal shelter, every shelter operating under contract with a county or city, and every shelter otherwise receiving state or local funding to file an annual report with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services by March 1 of each year. The statute spells out exactly what has to be in it: numbers by species of animals received, adopted out, returned to owner and destroyed, plus the shelter’s total operating expenses and its cost per animal handled.

The statute also carries a penalty, and it is a real one. A city or county that does not timely file is not eligible to receive spay/neuter reimbursement payments under [G.S. 19A-64](https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_19A/GS_19A-64.html) during the calendar year in which the report was due. The Department’s December 30, 2025 memorandum to shelters restates it plainly: submitting a 2025 annual shelter report is required in order to request reimbursements during 2026. Skipping the form costs a county money it could have spent sterilizing pets belonging to low-income residents.

| What the state form captures | What it does not |
| --- | --- |
| Intake, by species | Transfers out to rescue partners |
| Adopted out, by species | Animals that died in care |
| Returned to owner, by species | Animals still in the shelter at year end |
| Euthanized, by species | Any distinction between medical and space euthanasia |
| Total operating expenses | What the money was spent on |
| Cost per animal handled | Any common definition of that cost |
| Wildlife and livestock species, if the shelter adds them | Length of stay, return-to-field, or owner-surrender versus stray split |

Fields required by G.S. 19A-65 and present on the NC DACS annual shelter report form, against the operational data the form omits.

The gaps matter because they change what advocates can argue. Without a medical-versus-space breakdown, a county can attribute a 50 percent euthanasia rate to sick and injured animals and no one can check. Without length of stay, nobody can show that a county’s adoption program is slow rather than absent. Without a transfer column, a rural county that saves animals by shipping them to a metro rescue gets no statistical credit for it. Every one of those omissions is a design choice in a form that has not meaningfully changed in years, and each one could be fixed with a few extra boxes.

## Thirty-Four Counties Are Missing From the File

Sixty-six of North Carolina’s 100 counties appear in the 2025 file. Thirty-four do not, and the absences are not confined to tiny rural counties with no shelter. [Wake County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/wake/), home to Raleigh and the Triangle, is not in the file. It is missing from the final 2024 file too, and last appeared in the 2023 report, as Wake County Animal Care and Control. Neither is Forsyth, Iredell, Catawba, Henderson, Cleveland, or Wayne.

| Counties with no 2025 data in the state file (34 of 100) |
| --- |
| Alleghany, Anson, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Catawba, Cleveland, Columbus, Forsyth, Gates, Graham, Granville, Greene, Halifax, Henderson, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Iredell, Jones, Lenoir, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Pamlico, Perquimans, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Wake, Warren, Washington, Watauga, Wayne |

Counties absent from the NC DACS 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report as replaced on October 12, 2026. Pamlico is served by the joint Craven-Pamlico Animal Services, whose numbers appear under Craven. Gates and Perquimans are served by Tri-County Animal Shelter, whose numbers appear under Chowan. Absence from this file is not by itself proof that a county failed to file, since the 2024 edition continued adding counties for months after its first posting.

That caveat is important and it cuts both ways. The 2024 edition of this same report was still being revised on November 24, 2025, nearly a year after the reporting year closed and almost nine months after the March 1 deadline. Thirteen counties that reported dog and cat numbers in the final 2024 file are missing from the current 2025 version, which strongly suggests the 2025 file will keep growing. So some of the 34 names above are late, not absent.

There is harder evidence than the 2024 pattern. G.S. 19A-65 makes a county that misses the March 1 deadline ineligible for state spay/neuter reimbursement that year. Yet Lenoir, Madison and McDowell, all three on the missing list, drew 2026 reimbursements in both the first and second quarters, according to the state’s quarterly reimbursement reports ([NCDA&CS spay/neuter reports](https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/Fix/reports)). Those three counties almost certainly filed on time, and the posted file has not caught up. Dare was in the same position until the state replaced the file on October 12, 2026, and it now appears in it. Wake is a different case. It does not appear in the 2026 reimbursement reports either, and in October 2026 staff at the NC Department of Agriculture told us that Wake does not file the shelter report because it does not take state spay/neuter reimbursement. The statute says every county or city shelter shall file. But the only penalty it sets is losing that reimbursement, so a county that never applies for the money faces no consequence for skipping the report. Wake does publish its own numbers. Its [monthly reports on wake.gov](https://www.wake.gov/departments-government/animal-services/animal-center-reports) add up to 8,530 animals taken in and 1,330 euthanized in 2024, about 15.6 percent, and 8,388 taken in and 1,422 euthanized in 2025, about 17.0 percent. Those totals count every species the center takes in, wildlife included. For numbers closer to what the state form asks for, we asked Wake for its dog and cat figures through [public records request 26-4257](https://wakecounty.nextrequest.com/requests/26-4257), and the county sent them on October 19, 2026. In 2025 Wake took in 3,640 dogs and 3,862 cats and euthanized 241 dogs and 566 cats: 807 of 7,502, about 10.8 percent, well under the statewide 26.0 percent. It also transferred 1,403 dogs and cats to rescue partners, the outcome the state form never asks about. The county notes that these figures leave out animals brought in on bite quarantine whose owners chose euthanasia, and animals brought in for owner-requested euthanasia. None of Wake’s numbers appear in the state report, so the statewide totals leave out one of the largest shelters in North Carolina for both years.

But the practical effect on anyone trying to understand North Carolina today is the same either way. The statewide totals in this post are a floor. When the missing counties land, intake and euthanasia will both go up, and the percentages may shift in either direction. Anyone citing a North Carolina statewide shelter figure should name the file version and the county count, which is why every table here does.

It is also worth being precise about what non-reporting means legally. G.S. 19A-65 binds shelters in receipt of state or local funding. A county with no county-run or county-contracted shelter, of which North Carolina has several, may have nothing to file. The counties in the list with large municipal shelter operations are a different matter, and their residents are entitled to ask why the form is late.

## The Counties With the Highest Euthanasia Rates

Statewide averages hide the thing that actually matters, which is that an animal’s odds in a North Carolina shelter depend enormously on which county line it was picked up inside. Below are the eight highest reported euthanasia shares among counties that handled at least 750 dogs and cats, a floor that keeps very small operations from dominating a percentage ranking.

**The eight NC counties with the highest reported shelter euthanasia rates in 2025, dogs and cats.** Stacked horizontal bar chart of reported 2025 calendar-year euthanasia at North Carolina public animal shelters, split into dogs and cats, for the eight counties with the highest rates among counties handling at least 750 dogs and cats. Johnston County euthanized 2,145 of 3,459 animals, 62.0 percent: 727 dogs and 1,418 cats. Caldwell County euthanized 1,313 of 2,155 animals, 60.9 percent: 573 dogs and 740 cats. Davidson County euthanized 2,196 of 3,880 animals, 56.6 percent: 787 dogs and 1,409 cats. Surry County euthanized 1,761 of 3,269 animals, 53.9 percent: 446 dogs and 1,315 cats. Wilkes County euthanized 2,028 of 3,788 animals, 53.5 percent: 703 dogs and 1,325 cats. Stokes County euthanized 900 of 1,698 animals, 53.0 percent: 266 dogs and 634 cats. Moore County euthanized 1,031 of 2,004 animals, 51.4 percent: 459 dogs and 572 cats. Sampson County euthanized 1,040 of 2,093 animals, 49.7 percent: 512 dogs and 528 cats. The statewide reported average across 65 counties was 26.0 percent. Source: North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 2025 calendar-year public animal shelter report.

NC DACS 2025 CY public animal shelter report (file replaced October 12, 2026), 65 reporting counties; dog and cat counts from the same report. Johnston County euthanized 2,145 of the 3,459 dogs and cats it took in during 2025, including 1,418 of its 1,778 cats.

[Johnston County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/johnston/) sits at 62.0 percent. Caldwell is a fraction behind at 60.9 percent. Several of the counties on that chart are neighbors. Surry, Stokes, Wilkes and Caldwell form a contiguous northwestern chain where every reported euthanasia share falls between 53 and 61 percent, and Davidson, Randolph and Davie sit together just to the south at 57, 48 and 31 percent. Geography is not destiny here, though. [Rowan County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/rowan/) is in the same part of the state, handled more animals than any of them at 5,456, and reported a 5.6 percent euthanasia share.

Two of the counties in that block deserve a closer look because their numbers are unusual in a way percentages alone will not show. [Surry County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/surry/) reported 3,269 intakes and only 310 adoptions, while returning 1,178 animals to owners, an extraordinary return rate of 36 percent that is more than three times the statewide figure. [Davidson County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/davidson/) reported 3,880 intakes and 395 adoptions, roughly one adoption for every ten animals received. When a shelter’s adoption column is that thin, the euthanasia column has to absorb the difference, and it does.

## The Counties With the Lowest Euthanasia Rates

The other end of the range is the more useful half of this data, because it establishes what is achievable inside North Carolina’s actual constraints, with North Carolina budgets, in North Carolina’s actual intake environment. These are not aspirational out-of-state benchmarks. They are counties a two-hour drive from the worst performers.

| County | Dogs and cats handled | Euthanized | Reported euthanasia share |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Stanly](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/stanly/) | 811 | 18 | **2.2%** |
| [Cherokee](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/cherokee/) | 1,645 | 43 | **2.6%** |
| [Rowan](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/rowan/) | 5,456 | 307 | **5.6%** |
| [Lincoln](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/lincoln/) | 2,107 | 131 | **6.2%** |
| [Dare](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/dare/) | 1,089 | 70 | **6.4%** |
| [Orange](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/orange/) | 3,108 | 221 | **7.1%** |
| [Alamance](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/alamance/) | 6,288 | 512 | **8.1%** |
| [Transylvania](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/transylvania/) | 1,031 | 90 | **8.7%** |
| [Haywood](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/haywood/) | 1,197 | 105 | **8.8%** |
| [Buncombe](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/buncombe/) | 3,181 | 309 | **9.7%** |

Lowest reported euthanasia shares among NC counties handling at least 750 dogs and cats in 2025. Source: NC DACS 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report, file replaced October 12, 2026.

Two entries on that list are worth singling out. [Alamance County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/alamance/) ran the fourth-largest intake in the file, 6,288 dogs and cats through Burlington Animal Services, and adopted out 5,335 of them. That is an 84.8 percent adoption share on high volume, and it is the strongest combination of scale and outcome anywhere in the 2025 data. [Rowan County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/rowan/) handled 5,456 animals and adopted out 3,893 at a 5.6 percent euthanasia share.

Both counties are ordinary North Carolina counties with ordinary North Carolina budgets. Neither is wealthy, coastal, or unusually small. What separates them from Johnston and Davidson is not their tax base, it is how their shelters are run: active adoption programs, real foster networks, rescue partnerships that move animals out, and sterilization on the way out the door so the same litter does not come back next spring. Our guide to [what no-kill actually means in North Carolina](https://ncpetproject.org/no-kill-shelter-nc/) walks through the specific programs that produce these numbers.

## Cats Are Dying at a Much Higher Rate Than Dogs

Dogs and cats entered North Carolina shelters in almost identical numbers in 2025: 75,521 dogs and 75,263 cats. What happened next was not similar at all. Shelters euthanized 22.7 percent of dogs and 29.3 percent of cats. And the reason is visible in one column: 13,357 dogs went home to their owners, against just 2,406 cats. Dogs get reclaimed, cats do not.

That gap is the mechanical signature of free-roaming and unowned cats. It is also why a cat who has to leave a home is far safer going straight to a new one: our [guide to rehoming a cat in NC](https://ncpetproject.org/rehome-a-cat-nc/) shows how. A loose dog in a North Carolina neighborhood is usually somebody’s dog and somebody comes looking. A loose cat is frequently a community cat with no owner to call, so once it enters a shelter its only exits are adoption, rescue transfer, or euthanasia. In some counties the resulting gap is enormous.

| County | Cat euthanasia share | Dog euthanasia share | Gap | Cats handled |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Surry](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/surry/) | **74.7%** | 29.6% | +45.1 pts | 1,761 |
| [Ashe](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/ashe/) | **57.5%** | 16.3% | +41.2 pts | 550 |
| [Randolph](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/randolph/) | **66.3%** | 28.0% | +38.3 pts | 1,868 |
| [Johnston](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/johnston/) | **79.8%** | 43.2% | +36.5 pts | 1,778 |
| [Wilkes](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/wilkes/) | **66.7%** | 39.0% | +27.6 pts | 1,987 |
| Chowan (with Gates and Perquimans) | **56.1%** | 29.5% | +26.6 pts | 877 |
| [Stokes](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/stokes/) | **63.7%** | 37.8% | +25.9 pts | 995 |
| [Davidson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/davidson/) | **67.2%** | 44.2% | +23.0 pts | 2,098 |

Counties with the widest gap between reported cat and dog euthanasia shares in 2025, limited to counties handling at least 400 cats and 200 dogs. Source: NC DACS 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report, file the state replaced on October 12, 2026 (rechecked by species against it on October 14, 2026; no county in this table changed).

In [Johnston County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/johnston/), four out of every five cats that entered the shelter in 2025 were euthanized. In [Surry County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/surry/) it was three out of four. These are not counties with unusual cats. They are counties without a working alternative to intake for unowned cats, which is precisely what a trap-neuter-return program provides. North Carolina’s state spay/neuter fund reimburses procedures for dogs and cats owned by low-income people, and community cats do not qualify, which means the single most effective intervention for the numbers in that table has no state funding stream at all. We lay out the arithmetic in detail in our analysis of [what a state-funded TNR program would cost and save](https://ncpetproject.org/tnr-funding-nc/).

## What Sheltering Costs North Carolina Taxpayers

The 2025 file answers a question advocates get asked constantly by county commissioners: what does this actually cost? Fifty-nine facilities reported total operating expenses, and they add up to **$67,066,981**. Fifty-eight reported a cost per animal handled, with a median of **$381**. For how that spending compares with the cost of a state-funded surgery, see [what spay/neuter saves North Carolina](https://ncpetproject.org/spay-neuter-saves-money-nc/).

Both numbers should be handled with care. The statute requires a cost per animal figure but does not define how to compute it, and the reported range runs from $30.00 to $1,600.00, a spread no real operational difference can explain. Some facilities clearly divided a full departmental budget, including animal control field operations, by the animals housed. Others appear to have counted only shelter costs, or only a municipal contribution. The median is the honest summary statistic here, and even that is a median of inconsistently defined values.

![A shelter office desk with a printed annual report form, a calculator and a stack of intake records under a desk lamp](https://ncpetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/nc-shelter-records-desk.webp)

The state form asks for total operating expenses and cost per animal handled, but not for any common method of calculating either one.

What the cost column does reliably show is that spending does not buy outcomes on its own. [Davidson County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/davidson/) reported $217.16 per animal and a 56.6 percent euthanasia share. Rowan County, in the same region and handling more animals, reported $242.61 per animal and a 5.6 percent share. Johnston County reported $343.85 per animal, below the state median, with the highest euthanasia rate among counties handling at least 750 dogs and cats, 62.0 percent. [Alamance County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/alamance/) reported $418.00 per animal with an 8.1 percent rate.

Those four counties sit within about $200 per animal of one another and produce results that differ by a factor of ten. Money is necessary, and rural shelters are genuinely underfunded, but the 2025 data does not support the claim that a county’s euthanasia rate is simply a function of its budget. Program design, staffing choices, adoption hours, foster recruitment and rescue partnerships explain more of the variance than dollars per animal do.

There is a larger fiscal point buried in that $67.1 million. It is the cost of managing a surplus after the animals exist. Every dollar in it is spent downstream of the problem, and the costs do not stop at the shelter door: our look at [pet overpopulation as a public health problem](https://ncpetproject.org/pet-overpopulation-public-health/) follows them into rabies response and bite investigations. The upstream intervention, sterilization, is funded at a scale that is not remotely comparable, as the next section shows.

## The Prevention Money Runs Out Every Single Quarter

North Carolina has a state spay/neuter reimbursement program, established under Article 5 of Chapter 19A. Counties and cities apply quarterly for reimbursement of the direct cost of sterilizing dogs and cats owned by low-income residents. It is funded by a legislative appropriation plus the proceeds of the “I Care” Animal Lovers license plate, which sends $20 per plate to the fund.

According to the Department’s December 30, 2025 memorandum, the program received $250,000 in appropriated funds for calendar year 2025, transferred in quarterly installments, plus $122,228.33 from license plate sales across the four 2025 quarters. That is roughly $372,000 to reduce future shelter intake in a state whose reporting shelters spent $67.1 million handling the animals that already arrived.

The quarterly reimbursement reports show what happens to a fund that small when counties actually use it.

| NC Spay/Neuter Program, 2026 | 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | First half total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Funds available | $79,913.85 | $76,832.00 | $156,745.85 |
| Amount eligible for reimbursement | $210,230.92 | $230,256.93 | $440,487.85 |
| Share of eligible requests funded | **38.0%** | **33.4%** | **35.6%** |
| Procedures reimbursed | 1,777 | 1,865 | 3,642 |
| Participating counties and municipalities | 27 | 28 | n/a |

Source: NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2026 1st and 2nd Quarter Spay/Neuter Fund Reimbursement reports. Eligible amounts are requests that met program rules; the shortfall was not paid.

In the first six months of 2026, North Carolina counties documented $440,487.85 in eligible low-income spay/neuter reimbursements and the state was able to pay $156,745.86 of it. Roughly two dollars in every three of demonstrated, rule-compliant demand went unfunded. When requests exceed the account, G.S. 19A-64 splits what remains fifty-fifty between the state’s most economically distressed tier one counties and everyone else, then prorates within each group by sterilizations per thousand residents. It is a careful rationing formula for a fund that is too small to do the job.

Note the participation figure too. Only 27 to 28 counties and municipalities drew on the fund at all, in a state with 100 counties. Some of that is capacity, since a county needs a participating veterinarian and staff time to process claims. Some of it is the G.S. 19A-65 penalty doing its work: a county that missed the shelter report deadline is locked out of reimbursement for the year. Our [county-by-county low-cost spay and neuter directory](https://ncpetproject.org/low-cost-spay-neuter-nc/) lists what is actually available to residents right now, and our look at [states that got it right](https://ncpetproject.org/states-that-got-it-right/) covers how New Hampshire funds a comparable program at a scale that measurably cut its shelter intake. Our breakdown of the [“I Care” spay/neuter license plate](https://ncpetproject.org/nc-spay-neuter-license-plate/) works through where that plate money comes from and what it would take to grow it.

## Did 2025 Get Better or Worse Than 2024?

This is the question the raw totals cannot answer, because the two files cover different sets of counties. The 2024 report ended up with 68 counties reporting dog or cat intake; the current 2025 file has 65. Comparing 153,692 against 150,784 would just be comparing two different samples of North Carolina.

The fix is to compare only the 55 counties that reported dog and cat numbers in both years. That is a genuine like-for-like read on the same shelters, twelve months apart. [Pitt County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/pitt/) is left out because its only 2024 filing, from the Town of Ayden, reported zero dogs and cats, while its 2025 filings cover the county shelter.

| Same 55 counties, both years | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dogs and cats taken in | 134,905 | 138,012 | **+3,107 (+2.3%)** |
| Adopted out | 71,571 | 68,339 | **\-3,232 (-4.5%)** |
| Adoption share of intake | 53.1% | 49.5% | \-3.5 pts |
| Returned to owner | 13,242 | 14,779 | +1,537 (+11.6%) |
| Euthanized | 35,251 | 36,124 | **+873 (+2.5%)** |
| Euthanasia share of intake | 26.1% | 26.2% | Almost none (+0.04 pts) |

Year-over-year comparison restricted to the 55 counties reporting dog and cat data in both the 2024 and 2025 NC DACS files. Source: NC DACS 2024 CY report (as of 11/24/2025) and 2025 CY report (file replaced October 12, 2026).

The headline is that the percentage held almost perfectly flat while the absolute numbers got worse. Intake rose 2.3 percent. Euthanasia rose 2.5 percent, which is 873 more animals killed in the same 55 counties. And adoptions fell, both in share and in raw count, which is the most troubling line in the table: the same shelters took in more animals and placed fewer of them.

A flat euthanasia percentage in a year of rising intake is not progress. It means the system absorbed 3,107 additional animals without improving a single outcome, and it did so with 3,232 fewer adoptions to work with. Our post on [how many animals are euthanized in NC each year](https://ncpetproject.org/animals-euthanized-nc/) sets North Carolina’s rate against the national figures from Shelter Animals Count and Best Friends, and the distance is not small.

## How to Read Your Own County’s Numbers

The county table in the next section is meant to be used, not just read. If you are about to email a county commissioner, speak at a public comment period, or write to your legislator, a handful of comparisons will do more work than any general appeal.

Start with the euthanasia share and put it next to the statewide 26.0 percent. That single comparison frames everything else, and it is hard for anyone to wave away because it comes from the county’s own filing. Then look at the adoption count against intake. A county taking in 3,000 animals and adopting out 400 has an adoption program problem, not an overpopulation excuse, and the counties in the low table prove that placement volume is achievable. Each of our [county pages](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/) puts these numbers next to local low-cost clinics and adoptable pets nearby.

![A printed government report open on a kitchen table beside a highlighter, reading glasses and a laptop](https://ncpetproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/nc-county-report-kitchen-table.webp)

Your county’s own filing is the number officials find hardest to wave away.

Next, compare the cat euthanasia share with the dog share. If cats are dying at double the dog rate, the county needs a community cat strategy, and our [guide to starting a TNR program](https://ncpetproject.org/start-tnr-program-nc/) is a concrete thing to hand someone. Then check whether your county appears in the missing-counties list above. If it does, ask whether it filed. Some missing counties did file and the state’s posted file has not caught up; for the rest, the first ask is not a program, it is the form itself, because filing is the precondition for the state reimbursement money.

Finally, keep the caveats in your pocket, because someone will raise them and you want to be the person who raised them first. The file is still open to late filings. It has no transfer column, so a low adoption number does not automatically mean animals died. The cost per animal figures are not computed consistently between counties. Being straight about all three makes the euthanasia comparison land harder, not softer. When you are ready, [here is how to contact your NC representative](https://ncpetproject.org/contact-your-nc-rep/) with the numbers in hand.

## What Would Actually Change These Numbers

Nothing in the 2025 data suggests North Carolina’s shelters are failing through indifference. The counties with the worst rates are largely rural, thinly staffed, and taking in more animals per capita than the metros. What the data does show is a system funded almost entirely at the wrong end of the pipeline: $67.1 million to manage animals after they exist, and about $372,000 to prevent them.

That ratio is the clearest single fact in the 2025 file. Put the two figures side by side and the state’s priorities stop being a matter of interpretation.

**North Carolina spends about 180 dollars managing shelter animals for every dollar it spends preventing them.** Comparison of two North Carolina funding figures. Reporting public animal shelters recorded 67,066,981 dollars in total operating expenses for calendar year 2025 across 59 facilities. The state spay and neuter account received 250,000 dollars in appropriated funds plus 122,228 dollars from I Care Animal Lovers license plate sales during 2025, a total of about 372,228 dollars. The downstream figure is roughly 180 times the upstream figure. Sources: NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 2025 calendar-year public animal shelter report as replaced on October 12, 2026, and the Department memorandum to shelters dated December 30, 2025.

Source: NC DACS 2025 CY shelter report (file replaced October 12, 2026) and NC DACS memorandum, 12/30/2025. The $372,228 upstream figure is the entire state spay/neuter account for 2025: a $250,000 appropriation plus $122,228 in “I Care” license plate proceeds.

Three changes are visible directly in these numbers. First, fund the spay/neuter account at the level of demonstrated demand. Counties documented $440,487.85 in eligible requests in six months and received $156,745.86. The unmet portion is not speculative need, it is paperwork the state already validated and could not pay. Second, make community cats eligible. Cats were euthanized at 29.3 percent against 22.7 percent for dogs, and in the eight counties with the widest gap the cat rate ran between 56 and 80 percent. The intervention that addresses that is trap-neuter-return, and it currently sits outside the only state funding stream that exists.

Third, fix the form. Adding a transfer-out column, a died-in-care column, an in-custody-at-year-end column, and a split between medical and space euthanasia would cost the state nothing and would let any resident evaluate their own county honestly. As it stands, the file cannot distinguish a shelter that saves animals by transferring them from one that simply fails to place them, which protects underperforming counties from scrutiny and denies credit to counties doing the work.

The counties at the top of the low table already demonstrate what is possible. Alamance placed 5,335 of 6,288 animals. Rowan euthanized 307 of 5,456. Those outcomes were produced in North Carolina, in 2025, on county budgets, which removes the last excuse available to any commissioner who claims the numbers cannot move. The full statewide picture, and what it costs everyone, is laid out in our [guide to North Carolina’s pet overpopulation crisis](https://ncpetproject.org/nc-pet-overpopulation-crisis/).

## The Full County Table: All 65 Reporting Counties

Every county that reported dog or cat data in the 2025 file, alphabetically. Intake, adoptions, returns to owner and euthanasia are the four outcome columns the state form collects. The percentage is euthanasia as a share of that county’s reported intake. Because of the missing transfer column, these four outcomes will not sum to intake for most counties.

| County | Intake | Adopted | To owner | Euthanized | Euth. share |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Alamance](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/alamance/) | 6,288 | 5,335 | 304 | 512 | 8.1% |
| [Alexander](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/alexander/) | 766 | 338 | 124 | 277 | 36.2% |
| [Ashe](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/ashe/) | 1,048 | 511 | 137 | 397 | 37.9% |
| [Avery](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/avery/) | 498 | 469 | 10 | 34 | 6.8% |
| [Beaufort](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/beaufort/) | 1,159 | 654 | 80 | 275 | 23.7% |
| [Bladen](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/bladen/) | 1,660 | 1,352 | 115 | 179 | 10.8% |
| [Brunswick](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/brunswick/) | 4,492 | 1,876 | 480 | 1,052 | 23.4% |
| [Buncombe](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/buncombe/) | 3,181 | 2,278 | 784 | 309 | 9.7% |
| [Burke](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/burke/) | 2,117 | 1,696 | 150 | 287 | 13.6% |
| [Cabarrus](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/cabarrus/) | 2,966 | 732 | 750 | 539 | 18.2% |
| [Caldwell](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/caldwell/) | 2,155 | 503 | 171 | 1,313 | 60.9% |
| [Caswell](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/caswell/) | 922 | 372 | 65 | 185 | 20.1% |
| [Chatham](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/chatham/) | 1,813 | 1,037 | 311 | 421 | 23.2% |
| [Cherokee](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/cherokee/) | 1,645 | 639 | 62 | 43 | 2.6% |
| Chowan (with Gates and Perquimans) | 1,368 | 444 | 95 | 637 | 46.6% |
| [Craven](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/craven/) | 4,522 | 1,052 | 284 | 775 | 17.1% |
| [Cumberland](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/cumberland/) | 7,683 | 3,317 | 513 | 1,671 | 21.7% |
| [Currituck](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/currituck/) | 1,303 | 1,005 | 148 | 167 | 12.8% |
| [Dare](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/dare/) | 1,089 | 798 | 114 | 70 | 6.4% |
| [Davidson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/davidson/) | 3,880 | 395 | 313 | 2,196 | 56.6% |
| [Davie](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/davie/) | 864 | 467 | 123 | 271 | 31.4% |
| [Duplin](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/duplin/) | 2,531 | 577 | 142 | 754 | 29.8% |
| [Durham](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/durham/) | 4,584 | 2,395 | 461 | 1,534 | 33.5% |
| [Edgecombe](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/edgecombe/) | 740 | 483 | 56 | 151 | 20.4% |
| [Franklin](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/franklin/) | 1,783 | 438 | 145 | 363 | 20.4% |
| [Gaston](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/gaston/) | 2,312 | 1,716 | 236 | 231 | 10.0% |
| [Guilford](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/guilford/) | 6,652 | 4,584 | 801 | 1,123 | 16.9% |
| [Harnett](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/harnett/) | 3,360 | 1,036 | 151 | 1,485 | 44.2% |
| [Haywood](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/haywood/) | 1,197 | 971 | 151 | 105 | 8.8% |
| [Jackson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/jackson/) | 622 | 280 | 70 | 70 | 11.3% |
| [Johnston](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/johnston/) | 3,459 | 977 | 333 | 2,145 | 62.0% |
| [Lee](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/lee/) | 1,431 | 1,069 | 155 | 207 | 14.5% |
| [Lincoln](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/lincoln/) | 2,107 | 1,770 | 244 | 131 | 6.2% |
| [Martin](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/martin/) | 226 | 15 | 27 | 187 | 82.7% |
| [Mecklenburg](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/mecklenburg/) | 9,263 | 5,099 | 1,242 | 1,289 | 13.9% |
| [Mitchell](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/mitchell/) | 1,122 | 418 | 58 | 214 | 19.1% |
| [Montgomery](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/montgomery/) | 921 | 476 | 73 | 196 | 21.3% |
| [Moore](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/moore/) | 2,004 | 352 | 183 | 1,031 | 51.4% |
| [Nash](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/nash/) | 1,647 | 995 | 153 | 481 | 29.2% |
| [New Hanover](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/new-hanover/) | 388 | 390 | 3 | 1 | 0.3% |
| [Northampton](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/northampton/) | 708 | 538 | 81 | 85 | 12.0% |
| [Onslow](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/onslow/) | 3,263 | 1,765 | 512 | 455 | 13.9% |
| [Orange](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/orange/) | 3,108 | 2,481 | 273 | 221 | 7.1% |
| Pasquotank (part of 2025 only) | 50 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10.0% |
| [Pender](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/pender/) | 3,721 | 2,273 | 246 | 1,022 | 27.5% |
| [Person](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/person/) | 1,218 | 317 | 160 | 518 | 42.5% |
| [Pitt](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/pitt/) | 2,427 | 1,290 | 228 | 518 | 21.3% |
| [Randolph](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/randolph/) | 3,619 | 1,259 | 411 | 1,729 | 47.8% |
| [Richmond](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/richmond/) | 599 | 443 | 56 | 44 | 7.3% |
| [Robeson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/robeson/) | 2,327 | 359 | 120 | 659 | 28.3% |
| [Rockingham](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/rockingham/) | 4,253 | 1,627 | 317 | 1,832 | 43.1% |
| [Rowan](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/rowan/) | 5,456 | 3,893 | 314 | 307 | 5.6% |
| [Sampson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/sampson/) | 2,093 | 899 | 110 | 1,040 | 49.7% |
| [Scotland](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/scotland/) | 887 | 545 | 44 | 280 | 31.6% |
| [Stanly](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/stanly/) | 811 | 696 | 59 | 18 | 2.2% |
| [Stokes](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/stokes/) | 1,698 | 676 | 112 | 900 | 53.0% |
| [Surry](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/surry/) | 3,269 | 310 | 1,178 | 1,761 | 53.9% |
| [Transylvania](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/transylvania/) | 1,031 | 403 | 538 | 90 | 8.7% |
| [Tyrrell](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/tyrrell/) | 74 | 58 | 8 | 8 | 10.8% |
| [Union](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/union/) | 3,506 | 1,205 | 285 | 1,099 | 31.3% |
| [Vance](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/vance/) | 2,026 | 348 | 157 | 601 | 29.7% |
| [Wilkes](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/wilkes/) | 3,788 | 1,431 | 318 | 2,028 | 53.5% |
| [Wilson](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/wilson/) | 1,126 | 375 | 238 | 378 | 33.6% |
| [Yadkin](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/yadkin/) | 851 | 200 | 74 | 164 | 19.3% |
| [Yancey](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/yancey/) | 1,107 | 838 | 102 | 132 | 11.9% |
| **All 65 reporting counties** | **150,784** | **73,540** | **15,763** | **39,202** | **26.0%** |

Dog and cat totals by county, NC DACS 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report, file replaced October 12, 2026. Counties with more than one reporting facility are combined. Small-volume counties produce unstable percentages: New Hanover’s single reporting unit filed 390 adoptions against 388 intakes, and Pasquotank, Tyrrell, Martin and Avery each reported fewer than 500 animals. Pasquotank's figure covers only the county shelter's first week, the last week of December 2025, after it took over from the SPCA of Northeastern North Carolina, which the state shut down that August; the SPCA's own 2025 numbers are not in the file.

[Clay County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/clay/) appears in the file but is not in this table. Its single reporting facility filed 342 animals with no species label at all, so its numbers cannot be attributed to dogs or cats. G.S. 19A-65 requires the counts to be reported by species, which makes that particular blank a small compliance gap rather than a rounding detail.

## Why Are Some Counties Missing?

Every county or city animal shelter, and every shelter that runs under a county or city contract or otherwise gets state or local money, has to file this report with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services by March 1 each year, covering the calendar year before ([G.S. 19A-65](https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_19A/GS_19A-65.html)). Not every shelter files on time, and the state adds late filers to the file as they come in. The 2024 file kept changing until November 24, 2025. The state replaced the 2025 file on October 12, 2026, adding Chatham and Dare, and some of the 34 counties still missing may simply be late.

The only penalty the law sets for filing late is losing state money: a county or city that misses the deadline cannot receive state spay/neuter reimbursement under G.S. 19A-64 during that calendar year. The statute sets no fine and no other consequence, which is part of why the file fills in slowly.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How many animals are in NC animal shelters each year?

North Carolina’s reporting public animal shelters took in 150,784 dogs and cats during calendar year 2025, according to the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services annual shelter report as replaced on October 12, 2026. Sixty-six counties appear in that file, and 65 of them report dog or cat numbers. Because 34 of the state’s 100 counties are missing from that file, including Wake and Forsyth, the true statewide total is higher. Shelters also reported about 4,200 animals of roughly 85 other species, from rabbits and chickens to raccoons and bats, which are not included in the 150,784 figure.

### Which NC county has the highest shelter euthanasia rate?

Among counties handling at least 750 dogs and cats in 2025, Johnston County reported the highest share at 62.0 percent, euthanizing 2,145 of 3,459 animals. Caldwell County was close behind at 60.9 percent, followed by Davidson at 56.6 percent, Surry at 53.9 percent and Wilkes at 53.5 percent. Martin County reported a higher share still at 82.7 percent, but on only 226 animals, which is too small a volume for a stable comparison.

### Which NC county has the lowest shelter euthanasia rate?

Stanly County reported the lowest share among counties handling at least 750 animals, euthanizing 18 of 811, or 2.2 percent. Cherokee County followed at 2.6 percent. The most impressive results came from two high-volume counties: Rowan handled 5,456 dogs and cats at a 5.6 percent euthanasia share, and Alamance handled 6,288 and adopted out 5,335 of them at an 8.1 percent share.

### Why is Wake County missing from the NC shelter report?

Wake County has not appeared in the state shelter report since 2023, when it was listed as Wake County Animal Care and Control. It is missing from the final 2024 file and from the 2025 file the state replaced on October 12, 2026. In October 2026, staff at the NC Department of Agriculture told us that Wake does not file because it does not take state spay/neuter reimbursement. G.S. 19A-65 says every county or city animal shelter shall file by March 1, but the only penalty it sets is losing that reimbursement for the year, so a county that never applies for the money faces no consequence for skipping the report. Wake does publish its own monthly reports on wake.gov, which add up to 8,388 animals taken in and 1,422 euthanized in 2025, about 17.0 percent, counting every species including wildlife. In answer to our public records request in October 2026, Wake also sent its dog and cat numbers: in 2025 it took in 7,502 dogs and cats and euthanized 807, about 10.8 percent, not counting animals euthanized at an owner’s request or after bite quarantine. Wake is one of 34 counties missing from the 2025 file. Some of the others are late rather than absent: Lenoir, Madison and McDowell all drew 2026 state reimbursements, which shows the posted file is behind. Dare was in the same position until the state added it on October 12, 2026.

### Are cats euthanized more often than dogs in NC shelters?

Yes, by a wide margin. In 2025 North Carolina shelters euthanized 29.3 percent of the 75,263 cats they took in, against 22.7 percent of 75,521 dogs. The driver is visible in the return-to-owner column: 13,357 dogs went home to their owners compared with just 2,406 cats. Free-roaming cats often have no owner to reclaim them, so adoption, rescue transfer or euthanasia are the only exits. In Johnston County the cat euthanasia share reached 79.8 percent.

### How much do NC animal shelters spend per animal?

Fifty-eight facilities reported a cost per animal handled for 2025, with a median of $381. Total reported operating expenses across 59 facilities came to $67,066,981. Treat the per-animal figures with caution: G.S. 19A-65 requires the number but does not define how to calculate it, and the reported values range from $30.00 to $1,600.00, a spread that reflects different accounting choices rather than real operational differences.

### Can I calculate a live release rate from the NC shelter report?

No, and this is the most common mistake made with this dataset. The state form collects only four outcomes: adopted out, returned to owner, euthanized, and intake. It has no column for transfers to rescue partners, animals that died in care, or animals still in the shelter at year end. Statewide, 22,279 animals, about 15 percent of intake, fall outside the four reported outcomes. A county that moves many animals to rescue partners will look far worse than it is. Use the reported euthanasia share instead.

## Sources

-   [NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Spay/Neuter and Animal Shelter Reports](https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/Fix/reports). County figures in this post come from the 2025 CY Public Animal Shelter Report PDF that the state posted on October 12, 2026 to replace its July 27, 2026 file (the reports page still labels it “As of 7.27.26”), and were cross-checked against the 2024 CY report, file as of 11/24/2025.
-   [N.C. Gen. Stat. § 19A-65](https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_19A/GS_19A-65.html), Annual Report Required From Every Animal Shelter in Receipt of State or Local Funding.
-   [N.C. Gen. Stat. § 19A-64](https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_19A/GS_19A-64.html), Distributions to counties and cities from the Spay/Neuter Account.
-   Wake County, response to [public records request 26-4257](https://wakecounty.nextrequest.com/requests/26-4257) (2024 and 2025 dog and cat intake and outcomes, with the county’s note on bite-quarantine and owner-requested euthanasia), received October 19, 2026.
-   NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Memorandum to Animal Shelters in Receipt of State/Local Funds, December 30, 2025 (reporting deadline, 2025 appropriated and license plate funding, 2026 procedure caps). Available from the [shelter reports page](https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/Fix/reports) as “Memo to Counties.”
-   NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, [2026 1st and 2nd Quarter Spay/Neuter Fund Reimbursement reports](https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/Fix/reports).
-   [NC Spay/Neuter Program](https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/veterinary/aws/fix), program scope and “I Care” Animal Lovers license plate funding.

Methodology note: figures were aggregated from the individual facility lines in the NC DACS 2025 file as replaced on October 12, 2026, combining multiple facilities within a county and counting only rows labeled dog or cat. [Clay County](https://ncpetproject.org/counties/clay/)’s single facility reported 342 animals with no species label and is excluded from species totals.

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## Lawmakers decide how much spay/neuter gets funded.

In 2025 the state program paid 37 cents of every dollar counties asked for. Add your name, or send your legislators a letter in three minutes.

[Sign the petition](https://ncpetproject.org/sign-the-petition/) · [Email your legislators](https://ncpetproject.org/email-your-legislators/)

**[Jake St. Peter](https://ncpetproject.org/about/#jake-st-peter)** writes NC Pet Project's guides and checks every figure against its primary source: state reports, statutes and the original studies. Spotted something out of date? Email [info@ncpetproject.org](mailto:info@ncpetproject.org).

## Keep reading

-   [NC Pet OverpopulationWhat Is a No-Kill Shelter? Where NC Stands and What It Would Take to Get There](https://ncpetproject.org/no-kill-shelter-nc/)
-   [NC Pet OverpopulationThe Public Health Cost of Pet Overpopulation in North Carolina](https://ncpetproject.org/pet-overpopulation-public-health/)
-   [NC Pet OverpopulationHow to Rehome a Cat in NC (Without Surrendering to a Shelter)](https://ncpetproject.org/rehome-a-cat-nc/)
-   [NC Pet OverpopulationHow Many Animals Are Euthanized in NC Each Year?](https://ncpetproject.org/animals-euthanized-nc/)

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NC Pet Project works to end pet overpopulation in North Carolina through low-cost spay/neuter and better laws, and lists adoptable pets from North Carolina shelters and rescues in one daily-updated place. Low-cost help by ZIP code: https://ncpetproject.org/get-help/ . Adoptable pets: https://ncpetproject.org/adopt/ . Contact: info@ncpetproject.org