In a historic move, the Rancho Cucamonga City Council, voted unanimously on April 6th, 2005, to hire a no-kill shelter consulting firm. Nathan Winograd's No-Kill Solutions will evaluate the Rancho Cucamonga Animal Shelter operations and the feasibility  of turning the facility into a no-kill shelter. A contract will be prepared and presented for approval at the next council meeting.

Winograd made a presentation to the full council on March 14, 2005, touting his success in reducing the kill rate of adoptable animals from 75% to 0% when he was director of the Tompkins County SPCA  in New York. 

The move came on the heels of months of pressure from local animal welfare advocates, rescues and a no-kill petition circulating throughout the community signed by over one thousand residents calling themselves "Citizens For  a No-Kill Shelter."  This website originated that petition. As many as 75 interested residents attended council meetings to express their concerns regarding the shelter's current administration. San Bernardino County has been contracting with the City of Rancho Cucamonga to run the pound since 1996.

"The high kill rate, the lack of emphasis on adopting impounded animals and the dearth of veterinary care were sore spots that caught the public's attention", said the Director of No-Kill NOW.  "Hopefully we can all now turn to the most important and challenging work before us, building a no-kill community. I think we pretty much have a consensus that's where we want to head.

"Our leaders will be asking our generous residents to open their hearts and homes by adopting shelter animals or offering temporary foster care. We'll be focusing on providing superb services at the pound so  the public will want to come back.  Offers for spay and neutering and micro-chipping for free or at reduced rates will be a priority.  And maybe most important, if we all make lifetime commitments to the animal companions we have at home, valuing their lives and making sure they are fixed, we can make real progress in ending animal-control deaths.  Moving and other life-style changes do not justify abandoning our pets or leaving them at the pound.

"Our City Council deserves a lot of credit for their responsiveness to public concerns and their progressive thinking. This is truly ground-breaking.

"There's an opportunity here to create a state-of-the art shelter for communities everywhere to model. Rancho Cucamonga is an ideal place to accomplish this.  I hope the other cities in San Bernardino County are paying attention and follow in our footsteps. Their pound kill rates are even higher. And Los Angeles? That�s one of the worst places for pound animals in the country. "