New Jersey Municipalities’ Legal Duty to Provide Animal Impoundment: Understanding the Law and Mahwah Ruling

The True Cost of Doing Nothing: Why NJ Towns Pay More When They Ignore Prevention

Across New Jersey, animal shelters are struggling. Kennels are full, staff are exhausted, and communities are frustrated. At first glance, it might seem like shelters are simply “underfunded.” But the real problem goes deeper: we are paying for the wrong part of the system.

When municipalities don’t invest in prevention, the bill doesn’t disappear—it just grows. And whether a town operates its own shelter or contracts with a neighboring facility, taxpayers are the ones left holding the bag.

The Hidden Price Tag of Intake

Every animal that enters a shelter represents a cost. Multiply those costs by hundreds or thousands of pets each year, and the dollars add up fast. Here’s where the money goes:

- Staffing: Intake means intake exams, vaccines, feeding, cleaning, enrichment, and adoption screening. More animals = more overtime, more burnout, and eventually more staff.
- Medical care: A standard intake package—vaccines, flea/tick prevention, spay/neuter, microchip—is expensive. Add illness or injury, and costs skyrocket. Overcrowding also spreads disease, turning one sick animal into a facility-wide outbreak.
- Supplies and facility upkeep: Food, litter, bedding, disinfectants, laundry, and utilities all increase with population. Overcrowded kennels wear out faster, leading to expensive repairs or even replacement.
- Legal and liability: Poor conditions or high euthanasia rates open towns to lawsuits, investigations, and reputational damage. Even when no money changes hands, credibility is lost.

Contracting Doesn’t Eliminate the Costs

Some towns think they’ve found a shortcut: instead of running their own shelter, they pay another facility to take their animals. But make no mistake—the costs still land on the municipal books.

- Per-animal fees: Most contracts charge for every dog and cat brought in. More intakes = bigger invoices.
- Medical pass-throughs: Many contracts allow shelters to bill towns for vet care, surgeries, or emergencies. One animal in crisis can mean hundreds or thousands in unplanned expenses.
- Overflow charges: During peak months, some shelters impose surcharges if a town’s animals exceed the contracted number of kennels.
- Transport: Towns without shelters often pay staff or ACOs to drive animals to contracted facilities, adding fuel, wear, and labor costs.
- Indirect costs: Police officers responding to animal complaints, health departments chasing disease reports, and administrative staff managing contracts—all of this comes from local tax dollars.

The bottom line: intake always costs money, whether a town runs the shelter or not.

Prevention is the Smarter Investment

Here’s the good news: there’s a better way. Prevention keeps pets out of shelters in the first place, which saves money and produces better outcomes for animals and people.

Pet Support Services
Helping families keep their pets avoids surrender altogether. Simple programs—like vet vouchers, food pantries, temporary foster care, and training help for young large-breed dogs—cost far less than weeks or months of sheltering.

Supported Self-Rehoming
When keeping a pet isn’t possible, supported self-rehoming offers a safe, legal, and humane alternative. Families rehome their pets directly to new homes, using tools like a Transfer of Ownership Agreement to protect both parties.

Technology That Works
Platforms like Home To Home and Rehome by Adopt-a-Pet make this process seamless. They let pet owners create listings, connect with adopters, and transfer ownership without the animal ever entering a shelter. Some even include foster modules that can be activated during emergencies.

And the Supported Self-Rehoming Toolkit shows shelters exactly how to set this up—renaming “Surrender Your Pet” pages to “Rehome Your Pet,” providing step-by-step guides, and training staff or volunteers to coach families.

The Real Savings

When prevention comes first, the savings add up quickly:

- Shorter (or zero) shelter stays mean no food, cleaning, or medical costs.
- Reduced medical burden—preventive care in the community is cheaper than crisis care in the shelter.
- Fewer complaint calls lighten the load for animal control and police.
- Better data helps towns show taxpayers exactly how prevention reduces costs.


What NJ Municipalities Should Do Now

1. Create a Pet Support Fund. Even a modest budget can cover vet vouchers, training for large-breed dogs, or emergency boarding.
2. Adopt supported self-rehoming as policy. Rename “surrender” pages, provide ownership transfer forms, and integrate with a rehoming platform.
3. Train staff and volunteers. Every surrender request should be met with resources for keeping the pet or rehoming directly.
4. Track and report. Show residents the number of animals prevented from entering the shelter—and the dollars saved.

 
A Call to Action

New Jersey doesn’t need bigger shelters. It needs smarter policies. When towns fail to invest in prevention, intake rises, invoices climb, and taxpayers pay the price.

But when municipalities fund prevention and supported self-rehoming, everyone wins: fewer animals enter shelters, costs drop, and communities trust their leaders to make humane, fiscally responsible choices.

Doing nothing is the most expensive choice. Prevention is the smart investment.  Contact you Mayor and Council and ask questions.