Director Sarah Aguilar Replaces
‘Burnout with Belonging,
and Blame with Curiosity’
Read more from Pets & Animals 2025 here.
It’s an outdated term, but people still use it to describe where lost pets end up: “the pound.” The term conjures up images of dogs, cats, and rabbits sitting forlornly in steel cages on cold concrete, waiting for an adopter or for the death needle of euthanasia.
Fortunately, it’s been a long time since Santa Barbara County’s three municipal animal shelters fit this description, even though they admit more than 6,000 animals a year and help support thousands more. By all reports, things have gotten markedly better since the arrival of Sarah Aguilar, the current Santa Barbara County Animal Services (SBCAS) director, in 2022. The difference? A long-awaited culture change.
During a May 13 presentation to the Board of Supervisors, Aguilar talked about replacing “burnout with belonging, and blame with curiosity,” transparency and outreach that builds trust, and cultivating a “whole giant village” to do the work of animal welfare…