DC Health ends contract with Humane Rescue Alliance after 45 years

WASHINGTON — After a nearly 45-year-long partnership, the Humane Rescue Alliance and DC Department of Health will be parting ways.

Come Jan. 1, 2025, DC Health will take over animal care and control operations in the District of Columbia. The contract with the HRA has been extended from Sept. 30 through the end of the year.

According to the HRA, animal services are divided into two main areas of responsibility: animal sheltering and animal control. From now on, DC Health will be responsible for animal control — containing and capturing stray, roaming, at-large and dangerous animals; dangerous dog investigations and determinations; and investigating, testing and quarantining animals who bite or are suspected of having rabies. 

HRA will continue to provide animal sheltering, just no longer in partnership with the District. The organization says it plans to continue to take in relinquished animals, provide animal care and adoption services and veterinary services and clinics, among other programs. It also plans to continue investigating calls of animal cruelty and neglect as a part of the Humane Law Enforcement program.

The organization also says it plans on launching new support services, such as opening a pet resource center east of the river in Wards 7 and 8 and mobile veterinary and behavioral care programs, for example.

HRA says its contract with the city makes up only a fraction of its activity and claims in a press release that it has done the work at a “significant financial loss for decades.”