# Call for hearing(s) on operational challenges at Chicago Animal Care and Control and impact on public safety operations and implications for animal welfare in Chicago

- Record number: **R2025-0018690**
- Type: Resolution; category: Committee/Public Hearings
- Status: In Committee
- Sponsor: [Gilbert Villegas](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/36) (36th Ward)
- Committee: [Committee on Public Safety](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/committee/public-safety)
- Submitted Date: Jul 14, 2025
- Introduction Date: Jul 16, 2025
- Official record: [Office of the City Clerk](https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matterId=7283B3E4-D460-F011-BEC1-001DD8301D22)

## Impact report

> Written by AI from [the official document](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/clerk/matterattachmentspublic/5af39776-b9fa-411c-a2b6-9bcc22bdb41b.pdf). AI can make mistakes; the official document always wins.

This resolution asks the City Council's Committee on Public Safety to hold a hearing on problems at Chicago Animal Care and Control and how they affect public safety and animal welfare.

**Who it affects**

- **Residents who report dog bites or dangerous animals**: The hearing would look at why many of their service requests to Chicago Animal Care and Control are going unanswered.
- **Chicago Police Department officers**: The hearing would examine how officers are being pulled into animal-related calls and away from other public safety work.
- **Chicago Animal Care and Control staff and leadership**: They would be invited to testify about understaffing, funding, and the lack of a permanent Executive Director since 2023.
- **Animal rescue organizations and advocates**: They would be invited to testify and offer ideas on how to improve Chicago Animal Care and Control.
- **Volunteers and members of the public**: Their concerns about mistreatment, disease prevention, restricted intake, and poor communication would be part of what the hearing examines.
- **Stray, abandoned, and surrendered animals in the shelter**: The hearing would look at rising euthanasia rates, including more than 3,600 animals euthanized in 2024, often due to overcrowding and limited resources.

**What changes**

- The Committee on Public Safety would hold a hearing on the state of Chicago Animal Care and Control.
- Leaders from Chicago Animal Care and Control would be invited to testify.
- Chicago Police Department representatives would be invited to testify about animal-related calls.
- Animal rescue advocates would be invited to share policy recommendations for improving the agency.

**Where**: 36th Ward

## Lobbying and money

> Computed links; money near a vote is not evidence that it influenced the vote.

**Who lobbied on it**

- Best Friends Animal Society: ANIMAL CARE AND CONTROL (1 filing, Oct 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024; John Kamis; matched by semantic tfidf)

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Source: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/matter/7283B3E4-D460-F011-BEC1-001DD8301D22 · Chicago Politics, an independent, nonpartisan tracker of the Chicago City Council. Guide for agents: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/llms.txt