About the Data

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About the Data

The information contained in these reports comes directly from photocopies of licensing renewals supplied to the Illinois Department of Agriculture by each organization. Please note that it is self-reported and unverified by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. In some cases, the licensee left lines blank, which we denoted with a question mark.

Further, the Illinois Department of Agriculture only asks animal control facilities and animal shelters to disclose the following:

# of dogs received
# of dogs adopted
# of dogs reclaimed
# of dogs euthanized
# of cats received
# of cats adopted
# of cats reclaimed
# of cats euthanized
# of other animals received
# of other animals adopted
# of other animals reclaimed
# of other animals euthanized

Because this is the only data collected, it is unclear what animals were impounded unless licensee indicates it. Moreover, it is not known what species of animals were impounded in "other animals."

In many cases, there are animals that are unaccounted for based on the data requested. For example, Waukegan Animal Control impounded a total of 2,170 animals in 2006 but 1,796 of them were neither adopted, nor reclaimed, nor euthanized. These animals may still be sitting in cages at that facility OR they may have died at the facility (that information is not collected, unless it is offered, such as DuPage County Animal Care and Control which wrote that, in addition to the animals euthanized, "Died in shelter: 29 dogs, 110 cats, and 157 'other animals'") OR they may have been transferred to an animal shelter, in which case those animals will be double-counted as part of that shelter's "animals received." In the case of DuPage County, it is not known whether the Illinois Department of Agriculture investigated why 296 animals died at the shelter before renewing that county's license. Was there an outbreak of disease? One would have to ask the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Likewise, Granite City Humane Shelter indicated that it received 638 cats but left blank each line asking how many had been adopted, reclaimed or euthanized.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture does not verify the information provided by licensees. If you have reason to believe that the numbers supplied by a licensee are mis-reported, please contact us and file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Agriculture at 217-782-6657. The Illinois Animal Welfare Act states that, "The Department may refuse to issue or renew or may suspend or revoke a license on any one or more of the following grounds: (a) material misstatement in the application for original license or in the application for any renewal license under this Act."

Finally, please contact us if you don't see an animal shelter or animal control facility on this list as they may be operating without a license. Any information reported to us will remain confidential if you request it and supply your information so that we may verify.

Please share this website with everyone you know in Illinois who cares about animals. We must be aware of the fate of animals in our state in order to improve.