About Us

About

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control (ACC) is the municipal shelter serving all of Mecklenburg County. We operate under the General Services Department of the City of Charlotte, proudly supporting both the people and pets of our community.

Vision

A connected, compassionate community where people and pets thrive together in safety and health.

Mission

To protect animals, support responsible pet ownership, and deliver innovative, exceptional service every day.

We are a multi-faceted agency dedicated to providing the citizens of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with animal care services. We are an organization that values community partnerships and working jointly to build a better world for animals and the people who own them. 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control is a division of the City of Charlotte General Services Department. It is recognized and emulated nationally as a leading model within the animal welfare community and takes pride in initiating and implementing progressive programs and practices. ACC consists of five core operational units that work together to meet the needs of our community: Field Operations, Shelter Operations, Medical Services, Business Services, Communications & Outreach.

ACC provides critical regulatory services that support public health and safety, while also leading programs focused on education, pet retention, animal care, adoption, medical support, and intake mitigation.

We are committed to helping keep pets and people safe, healthy, and together.

ACC is proud to be recognized as a Tier 1 shelter under the national Human Animal Support Services (HASS) model, reflecting our dedication to progressive, community-centered animal welfare.

The main facility is more than 45,000 square feet. Included in the main facility are approximately 165 dog runs and 220 stainless steel cages. The building also provides an area for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Services Clinic operated by Animal Care & Control staff members.

Want to become a member of the team? Check out the Human Resources site to find the application, and instructions to apply. See the current job listings to see what is currently open.

We also have various positions filled by temp agencies: Goodworks and Allegiance

Animal Services Officer:

There are 39 allocations for Animal Services Officer positions and operates on a 20/7 schedule. Our Staff currently serves an ever increasing and diverse population of over 900,000 citizens. Some of the situations that our officers respond to include:

• Barking complaints

• Nuisance complaints

• Dangerous animals

• Injured animals

• Abuse of animals

• Restraint of animal complaints

• Animal bite investigations

• Disaster response (CART, SART, UASI)

• Livestock containment via specialized unit referred to as the Large Animal Response Team (L.A.R.T.) and Herding Dog Officer

• Extracting animals from contaminated environments via ACC  Haz Mat Unit

• responding to calls for service to enforce local and state animal laws 

• preparing investigative reports including bites and issuance of citations

• preparing case files for written orders, dangerous dog declarations, nuisance declarations, and testifies in court as necessary.  

• serve as members on specialized units such as the Large Animal Response Team

• (L.A.R. T.), and the ACB Haz Mat Unit for response in extracting animals from contaminated environments.  

• Officers’ conduct in depth investigations regarding animal cruelty to include dog and cock fighting involving felony prosecution.  

• Officers participate in community neighborhood association meetings and community outreach programs to include humane education and various other customized instructional programs.     

Customer Service Representative:

Front line staff are positioned in the main lobby of the Animal Services Center and assist citizens when they come to the shelter for a variety of reasons:

Animal Health Technician:

Animal Care Tech’s perform health checks, give medicine, be able to help injured animals, and be able to handle euthanasia on daily basis.

Administration:

Staff must handle daily data entry, citizen/owner assistance, and filing paperwork.

Public Information Specialist:

This specialized staff member must handle the media, marketing and creating adoption specials and adoptable animals, as well as creating and coordinating events.

Information Technology:

This specialized staff member must be able to work on computers, and create reports within the local Chameleon database system.

Animal Care Technician:

The attendant’s clean cages, feed animals 2 times a day, process stray animals upon entry, clean/wash bowls and do laundry on a daily basis.

Other jobs within Animal Services:

• Division manager

• Shelter Manager

• Animal Trainer

• Veterinarian

• Variable amount of positions created by two temp agencies

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control is equipped with 2 Emergency Response Trailers.  The first trailer was purchased and equipped in the Fall of 2009, thanks to a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.  This trailer is part of the Urban Area Security Initiative.  Charlotte Fire Department played a large role in helping make this possible.

The UASI Program provides funding to address the unique planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas, and assists them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism.  Per the 9/11 Act, states are required to ensure that at least 25 percent (25%) of UASI appropriated funds are dedicated towards law enforcement terrorism prevention activities.

A second trailer was purchased to hold additional equipment and was added to the fleet in the Spring of 2011.  The trailers are fully equipped to be able to set up a mobile animal shelter which could house 100 animals.  The trailers are self-sustained with generators to power ac/heat and lights.  They also provide pop-up cots for sleeping quarters for the emergency response team.  One of the trailers can also serve as an exam room if the situation would arise where animals needed to be examined for injuries.  The trailers are also equipped with necessary veterinary medical supplies, kennel cleaning supplies.  There is a laptop system that has the ability to connect to our animal database software so we can set up a remote database to keep electronic inventory, medical records, identification photos of animals, and most importantly the ability to post to a website any lost animals.  There is also an emergency response team of Animal Care & Control staff that is trained and ready to deploy with the trailers if the need arises.

100 percent of the grant money has been spent for this project.

Animal Care & Control has a large Emergency Response Team. Members consists of front counter, vet tech, kennel attendant and officer staff. Pictured above is a little less than half of the members of the Emergency Response Team. They are trained and certified in sheltering and field rescue.