After months of complaints about overcrowding and neglect, Clearlake has yanked day-to-day control of its troubled city animal shelter from a regional contractor and handed the keys to a much smaller hometown rescue group. Volunteers and staff with the Clearlake Animal Association say they walked into cramped kennels and a backlog of untreated medical issues, and are now hustling to triage animals, fast-track vaccines and stabilize the building while the city figures out a long-term fix.
The city has signed the Clearlake Animal Association to a one-year, $375,000 contract to run the shelter, and the group officially took over operations on Sunday, according to The Press Democrat. That $375,000 price tag surfaced when the City Council reviewed proposals earlier this winter, and the association was the only bidder, KWINE/BCMC reported. City officials say the deal can be extended after a one-year performance review if the new arrangement is working.
The emergency handoff follows a 2025 Sonoma County civil grand jury report that flagged “significant failures” at North Bay Animal Services, the Petaluma nonprofit that had been running Clearlake’s shelter under contract. Local News Matters and other outlets traced a pattern of delayed medical care, licensing problems and slow communication that helped fuel local anger. The City of Clearlake’s own website still lists North Bay Animal Services as the prior operator, a reminder of how quickly control flipped once the council finally acted.
By the time the city took a hard look inside, officials say they found dogs living for months in “urine, feces, and inhumane conditions” in a building meant for far fewer animals than it was holding, according to The Press Democrat. Those findings, coupled with an earlier Lake County report that warned about severe overcrowding, pushed the council to cut ties. Now, the marching orders for the new team are blunt: focus on medical triage, handle parasite control and get as many animals as possible into foster homes and permanent adoptions.
New Operator Faces Big Backlog
Clearlake Animal Association is not a giant national charity. It is a small, volunteer-heavy outfit that has been quietly partnering with county rescues and low-cost spay and neuter efforts in recent years. The group has helped run Pet Fix clinics and has been involved in rescuing more than 100 animals, according to Lake County News and its listing on Pets of the Homeless. Those same listings now double as a quiet plea for help, underlining how badly the association needs more caregivers and volunteers as it steps into a full shelter-management role.
What Residents Should Know
For residents, some basics have not changed. Clearlake’s city shelter is still the place to go for lost, found and impounded pets, and the address plus animal control phone numbers remain on the city’s website. The latest rules on licensing, how to report strays and how to reach on-site staff are posted on the City of Clearlake animal control page. City leaders say they plan to release monthly updates on how many animals are in the building and what medical work is getting done while the association settles into the job.
North Bay Animal Services, which continues to operate other shelters around the North Bay, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The organization details its mission and contract work on its website, North Bay Animal Services. Both North Bay and the new operator, the Clearlake Animal Association, list contact information online for people interested in adopting, fostering or volunteering. For now, city officials say the priority could not be clearer: get sick and injured animals out of filthy kennels and into real care.
