Graphically Pawsitive Vibes

INFO 526 - Summer 2025 - Final Project

Isle of Dogs: Joey Garcia & David Kyle

About Animal Shelter Data

  • Source: Long Beach, CA Animal Care Services Open Data Portal

  • Dataset: TidyTuesday (Week of 2025-03-04)

  • Records: 29,787 animal intakes and outcomes (2017-2024)

  • Key Fields: Intake/Outcome Dates, Intake Condition, Animal Type, Outcome Type, Date of Birth, Geolocation

Our Questions

Understanding the factors that influence animal shelter outcomes is essential for improving animal welfare and operational efficiency. By exploring these questions, we aim to identify gaps, disparities, and opportunities for intervention. Provide actionable insights to guide shelter policies, resource allocation, and effectiveness of shelter practices over time.

  1. How do intake conditions and animal types affect the animal’s outcome?

  2. How Have Adoption Volumes and Timelines Evolved (2017–2024) Across Dogs, Cats, and Other Species?

Data Considerations (Part 1)

Justification for species_group

Data Considerations (Part 2)

Animal Outcome Category Classification

  • adopted

  • death

  • non-death

# A tibble: 20 × 2
   outcome_category subcategories          
   <chr>            <chr>                  
 1 adopted          adoption               
 2 adopted          foster to adopt        
 3 adopted          homefirst              
 4 death            euthanasia             
 5 death            died                   
 6 death            disposal               
 7 non-death        rescue                 
 8 non-death        transfer               
 9 non-death        return to owner        
10 non-death        shelter, neuter, return
11 non-death        return to rescue       
12 non-death        transport              
13 non-death        community cat          
14 non-death        return to wild habitat 
15 non-death        foster                 
16 non-death        trap, neuter, release  
17 non-death        missing                
18 non-death        NA                     
19 non-death        duplicate              
20 non-death        others

Question 1

How do intake conditions and animal types affect the animal’s outcome?

Question 2

How Have Adoption Volumes and Timelines Evolved (2017–2024) Across Dogs, Cats, and Other Species?

Conclusions & Takeaways

  • Highlights need for targeted care and intervention for “Other” species that are underrepresented and more vulnerable

  • Fast median times reflects shelter staff and volunteer efforts to improve animal outcomes