AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Due to the efforts of the City of Amarillo’s Animal Management and Welfare Department, more dogs and cats are returning to their owners or finding new homes.
During an AAMW regular meeting, Director Victoria Medley detailed improvements in animal welfare across several categories, including the number of lost animals returned to their owners over the past three years and the number of animal adoptions.
Texas DPS, Potter County Sheriff’s Office on scene of a wrong-way driver wreck
The numbers:
- An increase of 7.2% in the number of animals returned to their owners from 2023-2025. A total of 90 additional pets were returned to their owners in 2025 compared to 2023.
- More animals were returned to their owners in the field by AAMW officers, lessening the impact on the AAMW shelter. From 2023-2025, there was a 47.4% increase in these numbers, with 127 more in-field returns in 2025 compared to 2023.
- Animal adoptions increased 34.1% from 2023 to 2025, with 678 additional adoptions in 2025 compared to 2023.
- The number of dogs and cats entering the shelter (intake numbers) decreased from 8,818 in 2023 to 8,453 in 2025. Expanded microchipping efforts, scheduled owner surrender appointments and a reduction in calls through expanded online reporting and 311 integrations helped manage shelter demand and allowed field officers to focus on higher-priority community needs.
- Thanks to the cooperation of the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine, the number of animal surgeries at the AAMW shelter increased from 1,891 in 2023 to 3,352 in 2025.
“These numbers represent progress in AAMW’s efforts to care for the animals in our community and help the owners of these animals – our residents,” Medley said. “Our vaccination and microchip programs have been outstanding in the past three years. We have worked with local and national partners to help make these programs successful, and these program have definitely had a positive impact.”
COA officials stated the AAMW provided 914 microchips in 2025 during microchip/vaccination clinics…