Esteban Rodriguez, who took over as director in 2021, wrote he had worked to rebuild the shelter’s culture, launched new service initiatives and outlined a two-year roadmap to establish a “community-centered shelter facility.”
“Unfortunately, my decision to leave is rooted in several challenges that have made it difficult to continue in my role,” Rodriguez wrote in a resignation letter obtained by Cascade PBS.
In May, Cascade PBS published a report detailing a number of safety concerns, communication issues and alleged retaliation based on interviews with more than 20 current and former shelter volunteers and employees. Rodriguez disputed retaliation and other accusations at the time, but acknowledged ongoing issues in his recent letter.
“The current conditions — animals living in inhumane kennels, a kennel system that poses safety risks to both people and pets, and a shelter that no longer serves its purpose for our community — are unacceptable,” he wrote. “While I have repeatedly raised these concerns, the City’s inaction could negatively impact my professional career, as I am ultimately responsible for the shelter’s outcomes.”
Alleged city inaction
Rodriguez accused the city of falling short on two primary issues: fully funding shelter positions and remodeling the building. He wrote that the city has not fully funded positions such as the behaviorist and foster coordinators. The behaviorist was previously funded by the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation, a private nonprofit created by volunteers in 2010 to help support the shelter.
This story is part of Cascade PBS’s WA Workplace Watch, an investigative project covering worker safety and labor in Washington state.
Callie Craighead, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said in an emailed statement that the behaviorist and foster coordinator positions are fully funded in the current city budget. She also noted that the turnover for Seattle Animal Shelter is lower than the industry average and highlighted other recent staff retention efforts.
“While there is a national shortage of animal care and veterinary professionals,” she wrote, “we are hopeful that the new labor contracts with City employees as well as proposed City legislation (which would increase salaries for SAS veterinary staff so that they are more comparable with similar-sized cities) will aid with hiring and retention of these critical positions.”
Rodriguez also expressed frustration with the shelter’s facilities, arguing the city had not taken steps to upgrade or remodel the 1982 building despite “continuous advocacy” from the Finance and Administrative Services department that oversees the animal shelter.
“[T]here has been no meaningful progress toward right-sizing our shelter,” he wrote. “This is deeply problematic for me as a leader and a further reason for my resignation.”
Multiple sources previously told Cascade PBS that the building structure and location added safety concerns for both workers and animals. Additionally, a report on animal welfare in the shelter published in May 2023 by Maddie’s Fund, a national organization that consults with animal shelters, noted several areas where the facility needs improvements, including noise reduction and more housing for dogs to reduce overcrowding.
Rodriguez previously told Cascade PBS animals were better off spending less time in the shelter if they could be moved into foster care or adoption more quickly.
“The faster and the quicker we can streamline that [foster] process, the easier it is to move those animals through and then depopulate your shelter so you’re not always at a critical state of being full,” he said in late April. “It reduces anxiety for animals, and it also reduces anxiety for staff.”
Craighead wrote the city’s anticipated $250 million budget shortfall makes funding a brand-new facility and additional staff positions “challenging and not feasible at this time,” but added that the city is planning some investments in the facility.
“The City has set aside nearly $4.5 million for capital improvements at the shelter that would provide safety enhancements within the kennels while working within the existing constraints of the shelter’s footprint,” she wrote in the statement, adding that the city is working with animal welfare experts at UC Davis to determine how to best use those funds. “Mayor Harrell and executive leadership have made sustaining funding for ongoing shelter operations a priority for the 2025-2026 budget and, as such, gave explicit direction in this year’s budget planning that the shelter would not sustain any budget reductions.”
Reforms and next steps
In his resignation letter, Rodriguez also accused shelter staff, volunteers and Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation board members of disrespecting him and providing “fabricated information” to Cascade PBS (formerly Crosscut) as part of previous reporting, “resulting in a negative article that unfairly targeted me and may have a lasting impact on my professional record.”
Rodriguez previously denied the shelter had retaliated against workers for voicing concerns, but acknowledged some communication challenges, saying the shelter was addressing it in the two-year plan.
Rodriguez also described a number of successes from his time at the shelter, including free vaccine clinics and an upcoming community resource van.
He characterized his approach as “meeting people where they are, providing access to veterinary care, and building a strong volunteer and foster program” in a statement to Cascade PBS. His two-year roadmap had listed 245 recommended reforms to enact by the end of 2025 based on consultant feedback and national best practices.
Jocelyn Bouchard, the deputy division director for the shelter, will step in as interim director until the position is filled, shelter spokesperson Melissa Mixon said. Mixon added that she does not “see this leadership transition necessitating a big change or diversion from [the two-year plan].”
More than half of the total recommendations are in progress, Mixon said, with 67 of them being completed. The plan earmarks certain items for specific timeframes, and 65 items were scheduled for the first six months of this year. Of those, Mixon said, 40 were completed and the remaining items are dependent on outside factors like staffing and technology. She added that the shelter chose to prioritize some reforms, which is why many are in progress.
“It’s important to note,” she said, “that the shelter intentionally started some action items around organizational culture in the first six months knowing that this work would take the full two years to complete — and that’s why it needed to start immediately.”