2025 Washington State Animal Welfare Assessment: Not Just Recommendations, But Necessary Reforms

Did you know that in 2024, the Washington State Legislature provided $250,000 Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Animal Services Division to complete an assessment of current animal welfare issues, such as animal abandonment, rescue organization operations, veterinary services, and costs? 

No? You wouldn’t be the only one. Many animal welfare advocates and even state legislative staff were not aware of this assessment. The WSDA published this final assessment in July. 

Below are the recommendations quoted directly from pages 6 to 8 of the Washington State Animal Welfare Assessment. Most, if not all of these, will be familiar because they are reforms (not simply recommendations) that advocates and professionals have been talking about for years.

PLEASE NOTE: While the study was originally intended to include all companion animals, this became too broad. As a result, this assessment only focuses on dogs and cats. It does not include any other companion animals such as birds, horses, reptiles, rabbits, hamsters, etc, nor does it include community cats.

Convene multi-disciplinary workgroups or task forces

In order to address each of these complex and often overlapping issues, multi-disciplinary workgroups or task forces should be established. Assemble a team of representatives from animal welfare groups and stakeholders to build on this foundational work, collect more data, find and prioritize solutions, set measurable outcomes, and determine the best funding mechanisms.

Establish standardized databases for data collection, sharing, and reporting

Throughout the assessment, the need to build, update, and maintain databases to standardize data collection and sharing was evident across disciplines. This encompassed a wide range of needs including participation in databases like Shelter Animals Count, coordinating resource allocation, creating a rabies vaccine reporting system to protect public health, establishing a shared database for animal cruelty and neglect to streamline coordination between animal control and law enforcement, and an interagency database for state level data sharing.

Expand regulatory oversight and infrastructure

Compared to other states across the country, Washington lacks regulatory oversight of companion animals and the resources to enforce existing rules and laws. Washington state’s northwest location with international, state, and oceanic borders brings opportunities and challenges impacting animal welfare due to international and interstate importation. Despite federal and state agencies having a regulatory role in importation, gaps in authority and coordination remain, especially at ports of entry where additional resources are needed. There is a need for an animal disease traceability system to track companion animals from their country or state of origin. There is also a clear need to establish a program for oversight, auditing of animal facilities, movement, sales, animal protection, animal care, and facilities programs, incorporating multidisciplinary, statewide collaboration. State import requirements should be updated to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regulations.

Secure funding to expand animal care, animal control, law enforcement, and community services.

Funding is needed to update facilities, add personnel, and improve veterinary access for animal care, animal control, and law enforcement to meet animal welfare needs. Key leaders and legislators should work to improve sustainable, long-term funding mechanisms to expand county-level services for more equitable resource distribution across counties. One recommendation is to award scholarships to support tribal officers, law enforcement, and counties without animal control officers/programs to attend the State’s Animal Control Officer Academy.

Washington has great models for animal wellness and community support programs that should be expanded. Current state programs offering services for people (e.g., food assistance, medical care, etc.) could include animal care supplies, animal food, and resources. There is an opportunity for additional subsidized funding for animal welfare programs to extend services (e.g., spay/neuter), mobile care, and/or create interagency mentorship opportunities. Further investigation to recognize what barriers prevent approved, licensed animal control and animal welfare agencies from providing services should be prioritized to identify resources, funding, or legislative amendments needed.

Increase access to veterinary care

Improving access to veterinary care was a consistent theme throughout the survey. Addressing veterinary workforce deficits, implementing incentives or programs to address debt load,

and expanding educational opportunities were identified as needed. Some recommendations include increasing the veterinary class size at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, funding and expanding existing veterinary scholarship programs to incentivize work in underserved areas, creating new scholarship or loan forgiveness programs for veterinary professionals, modifying the Veterinary Practice Act to improve utilization of the existing veterinary technician and assistant workforce, and creating specialized shelter medicine training programs for veterinary professionals.

Establish animal welfare-related outreach and educational resources

While there is commendable effort statewide, the assessment found a disconnect between stakeholders, subject matter experts, and organizational leaders. A need to share information, resources, and training opportunities is a critical gap that should be closed. A common online landing page to house and maintain current information and connect resources should be prioritized. Lists and maps of county, regional, or statewide resources and services paired with a searchable platform for public use are needed. Printable and culturally relevant materials for animal welfare providers to share with diverse stakeholders are needed. Additionally, training resources and networking tools should be built for awareness of other providers in an area (e.g., city, county, region) and for opportunities to communicate and partner. Specific training for animal welfare organizations on how to interact with their community in an accessible, culturally relevant way would be beneficial.

Source: 2025 Washington State Animal Welfare Assessment Report to the Legislature As required by Budget Proviso ESSB 5950