Thursday, October 1, 2026
Joint Animal Services (JAS) is primed to become the first shelter in Washington to join a national embed program.
Members of the Joint Animal Services Commission voted unanimously during their meeting on April 13 to authorize the City of Lacey to enter into an agreement with Best Friends Animal Society under its National Shelter Embed Program.
A fully funded Best Friends staff member will work on-site at JAS for an initial six-month term.
The embedded position reports to JAS Executive Director Sarah Hock and is tasked with assessing operations, closing program gaps and implementing proven lifesaving strategies alongside agency leadership and staff.
The agreement targets a single operational benchmark: a 90 percent live release rate, which is the national standard for no-kill status.
Data places JAS between 85 percent and 87 percent on live release, but the August 2025 Best Friends operational assessment put the agency's 2024 figure lower, at 81.2 percent, based on 2,850 animals received that year.
The agreement imposes no direct fiscal obligation on JAS or the City of Lacey. Best Friends funds and employs the embedded position, and the contract is executed through the city.
Participation does require indirect investment from JAS, including staff time, leadership engagement and access to shelter data systems.
Operationally, the embedded staff member's scope of work spans field services and managed intake, return-to-owner strategies, kitten diversion and foster expansion, community cat programming, and adoption and community engagement.
The position also has the authority to recommend supplemental grant funding to Best Friends should specific equipment or program needs emerge during the term.
Hock attributed the invitation to a sustained institutional relationship with Best Friends, which has been forged over seven years and more than $48,000 in confirmed grants and training support directed to the agency.
"We sometimes don't know what we don't know, and it takes an outside person to kind of look at those systems to make sure that maybe we're not doing a couple extra steps," Hock said.
The National Shelter Embed Program typically concentrates resources on agencies operating well below the no-kill threshold. JAS does not fit that profile.
Commission members acknowledged the agency's live release rate already places it closer to 90 percent, and credited Hock directly for securing the placement.
Still, Hock was direct about the conditions under which the partnership could fall short.
"Really for us, it's a win-win," she said. "The only way that it's not a win for us is if we refuse to do any of their recommendations."
Best Friends reserves the right to withdraw immediately if it determines JAS is unwilling to implement recommended program changes or that the agreement's goals cannot be met.
Thurston County Board of County Commissioner Emily Clouse credited JAS staff for securing the opportunity.
"I think this is a really good way to implement some process improvements in a way that's going to save lives," said Clouse, who represents the county on the commission. "I just want to say thank you to staff for building that relationship over time."
Should both parties execute the agreement by Friday, April 24, an embedded staff member is expected to begin on-site in June. The commission would receive regular progress updates throughout the term.
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SecondOtter
Not a whole lot of discernable information in this item. It sounds more like the minutes of a meeting. Maybe that's the intent but there are a terms used that sound suspisciously like re worked "TNR"...Trap Neuter Release". I guess that is what the author means by 'community cat programming'. How do you program a cat?
TNR or whatever they want to call it is not what the average person wants from JAS. The idea of TNR is to manage feral cats. A feral cat being one that was born 'in the wild' and has never been kept as a pet. They are everywhere, they are prolific and they are predators of wild birds.
Don't get me wrong, I love cats and have had them my whole life. I keep them indoors. But there has been instances where I was able to trap a feral tomcat who was in the neighborhood, hunting songbirds, defecating in garden beds and making his presence known by spraying urine on our house. When we trapped him and tried to turn him in to JAS, we were treated as if we were lying, that we were just trying to 'get rid of a cat that was no longer wanted.' I told them it's not my cat, it's feral. It was very plain that they didn't believe me.
And even after paying a big fee to JAS, they tried to get me to TAKE HIM BACK to my backyard (or "community', as they dubbed it) and release him. TO continue spraying, and hunting songbirds and defecating in my garden beds! .
And they might not understand that a feral cat, even one that's been neutered or spayed, is still going to be a nuisance. In addition, feral neutered cats won't defend the territories they carved out as entires, allowing OTHER feral toms to come in to the territory and: spray, defecate and mate. TNR or "community cats" isn't managing, it's abdicating the responsibility that JAS/humane societies are paid for.
Look, I understand. People who work at JAS and humane societies do it because they love cats, dogs etc. They don't like putting them down, I understand that. But they also must realize that many people think it's okay to allow their cat to roam. I shouldn't be punished for their neglect.
Thursday, April 23 Report this
pbaron1902
So very pleased to learn of this! Best Friends has been working tirelessly for a long time on the no-kill policy and it's great that our animal services have joined in that effort.
Thursday, April 23 Report this
longtimeresident
Cats had always roamed freely in all parts of Thurston County up until the 1980s when the people population increased significantly, and in the 1950s to the 1970s, very rarely were cats indoor cats only.
Friday, April 24 Report this
Snevets
Cat lover here. Keep your cats indoor. They kill birds, which are supposed to live outside.
Friday, April 24 Report this
MisPeeps
Great News! Thanks JAS for working on this. And a big thanks to Best Friends too!
Wednesday, April 29 Report this