The City of Owasso said an outside investigation has been launched into the city’s animal shelter. This comes after people expressed concern about the animals’ care and how the shelter operates.

The concerns were first raised in June by a volunteer at the shelter, specifically surrounding the shelter’s euthanasia policy, and the lack of information that on what animals were at the shelter and available for adoption.

Nicole Gholson, member of the animal rescue community, said the outside investigation into Owasso’s animal shelter is a step in the right direction.

“I’m really big into animal rescue, so this has been a big concern of mine for quite a while,” said Nicole.

Nicole was one of many who spoke at an Owasso City Council meeting in June. She said she wants more animals to be saved and have the chance to be adopted, stronger partnerships with rescues and more transparency.

“Both animals in our city and the citizens who care for them deserve better,” said Nicole to the Owasso City Council. “This is not just about statistics; it’s about compassion, responsibility, and community values…”

By the end of June, the City of Owasso announced that they hired a third-party attorney to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the shelter.

Owasso City Manager, Chris Garrett, said the investigation would look into the shelter’s live release rate, social media, allegations of crime and failure to follow policy, documentation and reporting and customer service.

The shelter’s website lists them as “not a no-kill” shelter. Nicole said she requested documents to find out what happens to the animals after they are brought to the shelter.

“Looking over here on the disposition method, it talks about whether they are adopted, euthanized, if they were sent to a rescue — all of that is here,” Nicole said.

The documents show Owasso Animal Control took in 346 animals in 2023 and 394 in 2024. It also shows that last year, shelter workers euthanized 144 animals.

Some of the reasons listed included health, temperament, and space while others don’t list any reasons.

250 animals were left in the shelter alive. That makes the live release about 63 percent, a number Nicole said needs to increase.

The City of Owasso explained that shelter workers use “a drop-down menu” that summarizes the outcome and “won’t capture every detail.”

They also said that “animal control officers can add notes to provide additional context.” Nicole said she wants to see the notes feature used more often.

“They can put the notes so, on rescues they can list what rescue that animal was sent to. If that was the case, if it was adopted out, then…you can out adopted, I guess. You don’t necessarily need to put the person’s name who adopted it, but there are spaces for that," said Nicole. “If you euthanized for a medical purpose, what was the medical reason for that? If you euthanized for space, why was that?”

Another category that caught Nicole’s eye was one labeled “citizen-to-owner return.”

“Those are the ones the city claims the citizens find, and because of our city ordinance, they are required to report that to the shelter,” said Nicole. “When they do that, the shelter asks them the description of the dog, information about the dog, and then they add that to their list and those numbers of animals never entered the shelter, yet they are being added into the live release rate.”

The city noted that workers enter those into the system to track the location and welfare of the animal and “there is no intent to inflate the numbers; it is simply a tracking category to show activity.”

Nicole said she wants to see meaningful change come as a result of the investigation.

“... We need to get new leadership there. We also can’t expect these same individuals to go in and…start just out of nowhere [and] change their way,” said Nicole.

The City of Owasso said they will give the findings to the city council first and then release it to the public.

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