Maricopa County Animal Care & Control (MCACC) is a lifesaving municipal shelter dedicated to serving the people and pets of Maricopa County by promoting public safety and reducing the homeless pet population. MCACC is committed to continuous improvement in its mission to build a compassionate, pet-friendly community.
Through efforts such as raising awareness about proper pet identification, educating the public on the importance of spaying and neutering, reuniting lost pets with their families, and finding loving homes for shelter animals, MCACC plays a vital role in supporting both animals and the community.
MCACC’s compassionate team is deeply committed to every animal that comes through their doors, working tirelessly to meet their needs. MCACC offers vital services to the community, including adoption, licensing, bite quarantine, and lost pet reunification. For the past eight years, they have consistently maintained a live release rate above 90%, reflecting their unwavering commitment to the animals and the community they serve.
MCSCC needs support, and we can make a difference alongside licensing. There are many ways to support their important work, and we hope you’ll join us in our mission to provide them with all the help and resources they need.
“Pet licensing is a great way to ensure your pet is returned home if they ever become lost. A license is visible, so it’s easy for a finder to recognize that someone owns the dog. While microchips are great—and strongly encouraged!—finders still have to take the dog somewhere to be scanned. With a license tag, they can easily contact the owner to reunite the lost pet.”
-Kim Powell, Communications Supervisor
MCACC needs our help
MCACC is vital in protecting and caring for the community’s most vulnerable animals, but they can’t do it alone. Community support is essential to help sustain their lifesaving work.
Caring for each animal costs roughly $77 a day, covering food, medical treatment, shelter, and other essential needs. Your support directly impacts the well-being of these animals, ensuring they receive the care and attention they deserve.
How to help:
License your pet
Licensing plays a crucial role in supporting the community by helping to reunite lost pets with their owners quickly and efficiently. When a pet is found with a license tag, it becomes much easier to locate their owner, ensuring a safe return and helping keep shelter capacity manageable. The revenue generated from licenses also supports the shelter and the animals in their care.
Additionally, licensing encourages compliance with local laws and helps ensure pets stay up to date on essential vaccinations, such as rabies, contributing to the overall health and safety of the community.
License your pet here.
Volunteer
Community members can make a meaningful impact at MCACC by getting involved through volunteering. Volunteers play a vital role in daily shelter operations, helping with tasks like cleaning kennels, walking dogs, doing laundry and dishes, assisting at events, and providing enrichment for the animals.
Every effort, big or small, makes a difference; even something as simple as sharing a social media post can help a pet find a loving home.
Apply to volunteer here.
Donate
Donations provide vital support for the most vulnerable animals in the community and give the shelter the resources needed to protect them. Contributions help MCACC provide lifesaving care, nutritious food, and safe shelter for animals in the community.
Donate to MCACC here.
Impact by the numbers
We hope that by sharing as much information as possible, pet owners will not only understand the positive impact pet licenses have on the community but also recognize their value.
202
Staff Members
500+
Volunteers
11,393
Pets Adopted
1,033
Pets Fostered
16,702
Pets Served
1,611
Lost Pets Reunited
*Yearly average estimates
More than just a shelter
MCACC works daily to make a broader impact in the community. Through dedicated efforts, they provide services and initiatives that reflect a deep commitment to both animals and people.
Tails Around Town
Tails Around Town is a program MCACC launched in March 2024, and has become wildly popular since its launch. This is an opportunity for a community member to take a dog out on a field trip to the park, a patio at a restaurant, a pet store, or even their home to relax and catch up on sleep, and then bring them back at the end of the day. MCACC supplies the “tailwagger” with a backpack full of supplies like treats, toys, a water bowl, and a list of pet-friendly places to take the pup.
This program offers dogs a much-needed break from the shelter while providing valuable insights into their personalities and needs. It also offers a unique opportunity for people to get involved with the shelter, especially those with busy schedules who may not be able to volunteer, foster, or adopt but still want to make a difference.
Learn more about Tails Around Town.
Last Litter
MCACC believes that spaying and neutering are the most effective ways to reduce the homeless animal population. Their Last Litter program supports pet owners who unexpectedly find themselves with a litter of puppies. Through this program, the puppies remain with their mother until they are old enough for adoption. At this point, MCACC takes them in, ensures they receive proper care, and places them in loving homes. In addition, the mother dog is spayed at no cost to the owner.
Last Litter eases the financial and emotional burden of an unplanned litter while helping to prevent future litters, making it a compassionate and practical solution for pet owners and animals alike.
Learn more about Last Litter.
Shelter Diversion
MCACC’s Shelter Diversion program is designed to help keep people and their pets together by offering support to pet owners who feel that surrendering their animal is their only option. Shelter Diversion Navigators work directly with these individuals to explore alternatives, connect them with resources, provide guidance, and offer ongoing support.
Recognizing that surrendering a pet is often a heartbreaking and difficult decision, the program aims to alleviate that burden by helping owners find solutions that allow them to keep their pets. Many have expressed relief after speaking with a Navigator and discovering options they hadn’t known were available.
Learn more about Shelter Diversion.
Your license fees at work
Each year, millions of pets end up in shelters. While the care, compassion, and love shelter workers and volunteers provide are endless, their budgets, unfortunately, are not. By licensing your pet, you’re not just paying a fee–you’re providing a lifeline for animals like Blue and Cosmic, who depend on these resources for their well-being and chance at a better life.
Blue
“Blue was surrendered to us after his owner couldn't take care of him anymore. The 9-year-old husky came to us with red and bulging eyes. There was extensive scarring in his corneas, and he appeared to be mostly blind. Due to the severity of his condition, his eyes had to be removed by our veterinarians, who could tell he was in pain. More than a week after his surgery, Blue was healing well and ready to start a new chapter in his life in a new home!
Despite not being able to see, he loved meeting new people and wasn’t afraid to snuggle up against you for some head scratches and back rubs. According to his last owner, he is friendly to people of all ages and ignores other dogs. We posted his story on social media, letting potential adopters know he was mainly an outside dog in his last home, so he may need additional in-home training. Almost immediately, his perfect adopters saw the post and came straight to the shelter to spoil him for the rest of his life!”
Cosmic
“It was a bittersweet day when Cosmic was adopted for the first time. Imran and Cassie had fallen in love after taking him out for a Tails Around Town field trip, and by the time they decided they wanted to adopt, someone else had signed the paperwork. They met other dogs at the shelter, but nothing felt right.
A few days later, the couple discovered that Cosmic had been returned due to cats in the home. However, due to their schedules as firefighters, they would not be able to get him for several more days. Our Event Coordinator, Nicole, kept in touch with them every day about Cosmic's availability and let them know he would be at an adoption event in Mesa that weekend. As soon as they were both off, they came to PetSmart and picked up their new family member! He recognized them immediately, and the photos say it all. Happy Gotcha Day, Cosmic!”
More about MCACC
We sat down with Kim Powell, Communications Supervisor at MCACC, to learn more about the important work being done for local animals in need.
What is most rewarding about being a part of your organization?
There are so many happy moments every day at MCACC; someone finding that connection through a kennel with their new pet, a family reuniting with their missing pet, staff and volunteers gushing over a silly dog or an adorable puppy—the good moments are endless. To be able to share those moments with the community is very rewarding.
In your words, why is it important for residents to license their pet, and what impact does that have on your organization and community as a whole?
It is more than just “it’s the law.” Licensing your pet has so many benefits—a free ride home if they’re ever lost, an easy way to find their owner, and home quarantine if their dog ever bites someone. The fact that the funds for licensing also directly help other homeless pets is an easy way for everyone to show their support for our community’s pets.
What is something that makes your shelter unique?
We are forward-thinking, anticipating the trends and needs of our customers. There is more to MCACC than just a great place to adopt. We understand that not everyone can adopt right now, which is why we have built programs like Tails Around Town to get more people involved in helping dogs trying to find their forever homes.
What is the best piece of advice you have for pet owners?
Make sure your dog has some form of ID on them. Most of the dogs who arrive at the shelter as strays do not have a microchip or an ID tag/license. Even if they come in with a harness, which clearly indicates a loving pet owner, it is impossible for us to then find the owner. Ultimately, we want to keep people and pets together!
Is there anything else you would like people to know about the organization?
Everyone at MCACC is here because they love animals and want to see them go into loving homes.
