After launching the Aurora Animal Rescue Network in 2025, the city of Aurora’s Animal Care and Control Division marked a record number of animals transferred out of the city’s shelter, officials said.
A transfer, which is different than a direct adoption, is when a different organization takes an animal from a shelter to adopt out on its own. The goal of transferring out is to lower the number of animals the shelter needs to keep itself, opening up kennel space for new ones to come in, according to Animal Control Manager Kameron DeBoer.
Plus, other rescue organizations often have foster programs, so the animals can live in homes instead of in cages like they do at the shelter, which makes them happier and healthier, DeBoer said. These organizations also often have an easier time getting the animals adopted, she said.
“It’s great for the animal, and it’s great for us,” DeBoer said. “It keeps everything running smoother here.”
Animal transfers from Aurora’s shelter have nearly doubled since 2021, and last year it helped 630 animals find new homes through transfers, which is a new record, a city news release announced last week. Transfers in 2025 surpassed 2024’s total by 90 animals, officials said in the news release.
DeBoer told The Beacon-News that the recent jump in transfers is “kind of unheard of,” which is why the city is so proud of it.
The city’s shelter currently has about equal rates of transfers and adoptions, but adoption rates have stayed about the same over the past several years, DeBoer said. It is going to be difficult to raise the number of adoptions the shelter sees each year, she said, so transfers are how the city is making up for that.
When DeBoer joined Aurora’s Animal Care and Control Division near the end of 2023, she recognized that the city lacked transfer partnerships with outside organizations. These types of partnerships were a big part of her previous job, so she reached out to these groups, but she faced a lot of pushback, she said.
After having an open house to discuss some of the issues organizations had in the past, many rescue groups began to work with the city in 2024, according to DeBoer. She said that, as these organizations had good stories to tell about their partnership with the city, more joined in.
Last July, the city launched the Aurora Animal Rescue Network to formalize the partnership process and make it more “mutually beneficial” for all involved, DeBoer said. Not only are those organizations taking animals from the shelter, she said, but they are also becoming resources the city can point people towards.
For example, Aurora’s animal shelter doesn’t do fostering, but if someone is interesting in fostering an animal, the Animal Care and Control Division can direct them to partner organizations that do offer it, she said.
A list of the roughly 20 organizations that make up the network, alongside the programs and services those organizations offer, is featured on the city’s website at: animalcontrol.aurora.il.us/Get-Involved/Rescue-Partners
DeBoer said the network has a range of organizations big and small, old and new. And while roughly 95% of the organizations are from Illinois, some are from out of state, she said.
These organizations often have an easier time adopting out animals than the Aurora shelter does, according to DeBoer. That’s not only because some people may have negative views of the shelter, or may not know it even adopts out animals, but also because these organizations already have great reputations, communities and resources, she said.
Going forward, the city is looking to continue expanding the Aurora Animal Rescue Network and to improve it. Aurora’s Animal Care and Control Division just wants to streamline and expedite the process of getting animals out the door, DeBoer said, whether that’s through transfers or adoptions.
While Aurora’s shelter still loves to do direct adoptions, it is a lot more difficult to reach individual people as opposed to organizations, DeBoer said. Still, it is “kind of a shift” and is hard to watch animals go to rescue groups, she said, rather than see the family the animal is actually going home with.
More information about adopting pets directly from Aurora’s shelter can be found at: animalcontrol.aurora.il.us/Adoption
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
