The Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento is being accused of illegal practices by a law firm specializing in animal rights. The firm served the shelter and the city with a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of NorCal Bully Breed Rescue and Elk Grove Cat Rescue.The notice claims illegal practices are routine at the shelter, specifically accusing it of implementing illegal “reduced intake” programs. These programs allegedly turn animals away unvaccinated and unsterilized, causing an overpopulation crisis and posing a public safety risk.The notice points to the city’s own performance audit of the Animal Care Services Division released in April 2025. The audit said, “The city has adopted various strategies related to intake and foster programs to manage its limited capacity. These could pose some risks to the city and generally do not address the root causes for animals coming to the shelter.”At the time, the shelter responded by saying that bringing in all cats to a stressful shelter environment is not beneficial to the cats and would place additional burdens on staff and volunteers. The shelter also said this could lead to an increase in illnesses among healthy cats, higher costs for treatment, and an uptick in euthanasia rates for cats that were previously healthy.Efforts to reach the shelter for comment on the cease-and-desist letter have been made, but we are still waiting for a response. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento is being accused of illegal practices by a law firm specializing in animal rights.
The firm served the shelter and the city with a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of NorCal Bully Breed Rescue and Elk Grove Cat Rescue.
The notice claims illegal practices are routine at the shelter, specifically accusing it of implementing illegal “reduced intake” programs. These programs allegedly turn animals away unvaccinated and unsterilized, causing an overpopulation crisis and posing a public safety risk.
The notice points to the city’s own performance audit of the Animal Care Services Division released in April 2025.
The audit said, “The city has adopted various strategies related to intake and foster programs to manage its limited capacity. These could pose some risks to the city and generally do not address the root causes for animals coming to the shelter.”
At the time, the shelter responded by saying that bringing in all cats to a stressful shelter environment is not beneficial to the cats and would place additional burdens on staff and volunteers. The shelter also said this could lead to an increase in illnesses among healthy cats, higher costs for treatment, and an uptick in euthanasia rates for cats that were previously healthy.
Efforts to reach the shelter for comment on the cease-and-desist letter have been made, but we are still waiting for a response.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel