Most dogs that pass through the Lee County animal shelter leave on a transfer to a rescue group. In 2025, the county’s shelter took in 721 dogs and sent 560 of them, nearly 78%, to rescue organizations elsewhere in Virginia, according to the annual report it filed with the state.
Ten dogs were euthanized that year. That is about 1.4% of the dogs the shelter handled.
Virginia shelters file these reports each year with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the numbers are reported by the shelters themselves. The Lee Daily Register pulled the county’s reports for 2021 through 2025 and compared 2025 with the state’s summary for all public shelters.
Where the dogs came from
The county’s 2025 report lists these reasons for custody:
- Surrendered by their owners: 356
- Strays: 328
- Seized: 29
- Held for bite-case quarantine: 8
Owner surrenders made up almost half of the intake. Across Virginia’s public shelters, surrenders were about 32% of the dogs taken in during 2025, based on the state’s summary of public animal shelters.
The Lee County reports list no cats in any of the five years. The intake policy the county filed with the state describes a pound for dogs and for farm animals that are seized, abandoned or running loose.
Where they went
Of the 721 dogs in 2025, 560 were transferred, 91 were reclaimed by their owners and 55 were adopted. Ten were euthanized and five died in custody. None were still at the shelter on December 31.
The report names four groups that took dogs from Lee County that year: Paws of Southwest Va. in Coeburn, the Winchester SPCA, Homeward Trails in Arlington and Lost Dog and Cat in Chantilly.
That pattern is very different from the state as a whole. Across Virginia’s public shelters in 2025, about 23% of dogs were transferred, about 30% were adopted, about 28% went back to their owners, and about 12% were euthanized.
Five years of reports
Intake has held steady at a little over 700 dogs a year since 2023. Here is what the county reported each year:
| Year | Dogs handled | Transferred | Euthanized |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 579 | 421 | 12 |
| 2022 | 666 | 528 | 22 |
| 2023 | 723 | 542 | 31 |
| 2024 | 717 | 547 | 13 |
| 2025 | 721 | 560 | 10 |
Over the five years, the shelter handled 3,406 dogs, transferred 2,598 and euthanized 88. The highest euthanasia count was 31, in 2023, the same year 21 dogs died in custody. The 2023 report gives no explanation for either number.
What the county has spent
The county budget for animal control rose this year. The appropriation is $269,924 for 2026-27, up from $207,735 in 2025-26, according to the board’s June 29, 2026 and June 25, 2025 minutes. The minutes do not break down the increase.
Smaller items have come before the Board of Supervisors too. In January 2025, the board approved $2,901.68 for materials to repair shelter pens that then-County Administrator Robby Wright said were in disrepair. The money came from a $4,630.55 donation that Eastman made for the shelter in the 2023-24 fiscal year, and shelter staff were to do the repairs, according to the January 21, 2025 minutes.
A month later, according to the February 18, 2025 minutes, the board voted to add the animal control and litter control office to the sheriff’s body camera program, at $13,837.57 over five years. On May 5, 2026, the board agreed to take applications for a pool of candidates, if needed, for a full-time animal control officer.
The shelter’s listed contact in the state reports is Lee County Animal Control, P.O. Box 367, Jonesville, at (276) 346-7710.