Here’s How Busy the Great Falls Animal Shelter was in 2025

As the current year begins to wane and we start to celebrate the arrival of the new year in 2026, some people are hard at work crunching numbers rather than cookies late into the night.

via GIPHY

Many businesses are finalizing figures for the year, including city offices in Great Falls, and discovering just how busy the year may have been.  For the City of Great Falls Animal Shelter, you could say they were hitting the ground with all four paws all year long in 2025.

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Here's How Busy the Great Falls Animal Shelter was in 2025

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So far in 2025, the GFAS has seen 597 animals come through the doors of the facility.  Of those nearly 600 animals, 152 were returned to their owners through identification with a scannable chip, or owners coming in person to the shelter.

Adoption Numbers and a Look Forward to the New Year of 2026 with Director

Of those animals that remained after owners claiming them, there is a happy ending for most of them.  357 animals were adopted out during the year to new homes to be loved in.  But there are also some very sobering and sad statistics that end the year also.

The GFAS is a "no-kill" shelter, but there are instances that animals need to be euthanized while at the facility.  In 2025, the shelter had 16 animals that died in care; early births, traumatic injuries or old age were common for these animals.  34 animals were euthanized in 2025 due to injuries, sickness, or the impossibility of integrating them back into homes.  According to the shelter director:

This is the hardest part of our work. The part no one enters this field wanting to do. These decisions are never rushed, never casual, and never made without deep consideration and heartbreak. They come after careful evaluation, consultation, and the question we ask ourselves again and again: Is there a safe and humane path forward for this animal?

Sometimes the answer is no.

In looking forward to 2026, the director stated that "I hope it is a year shaped by reflection and compassion. A year with more reunions, more safe and lasting homes, and fewer animals needing rescue in the first place. A year where prevention matters as much as response, and where care begins long before an animal ever reaches our doors."