{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,29]],"date-time":"2026-08-29T05:17:44Z","timestamp":1787980664911,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787529600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Municipal dog shelters are often grouped as outsourced facilities despite operator differences. We analyzed 33,875 dog admissions and 90 municipality-year observations from 2016 to 2025 across nine Korean municipalities, with three per operator category; operator type was fixed and nested within municipality. Among 32,838 known outcomes, live-release rates were 69.1%, 58.1%, and 40.0%, and euthanasia rates were 14.0%, 22.8%, and 42.5% in corporation-operated, veterinary hospital-operated, and individually operated shelters, respectively. The corporation live-release estimate ranged from 62.6% to 72.0% under alternative classifications of unresolved records. Small-sample cluster-robust comparisons were imprecise: the individually versus corporation-operated euthanasia odds ratio was 4.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.40\u201356.35), and every operator interval included 1.0. Contextual adjustment yielded odds ratios of 0.97 for both outcomes for veterinary hospital- versus corporation-operated shelters. Among 33,836 admissions with common 180-day follow-up, live-release rates were 59.9%, 53.0%, and 39.8%, and euthanasia rates were 9.1%, 16.7%, and 42.0%; annual odds ratios were 1.05 (0.93\u20131.19) and 0.90 (0.78\u20131.05), respectively. Results describe operator-linked municipal systems, not causal effects. Standardized follow-up, complete reporting, capacity monitoring, and larger prospective studies are needed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16172657","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T17:20:28Z","timestamp":1787592028000},"page":"2657","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Municipal Outsourcing and Animal Welfare Outcomes in Contracted Dog Shelters: A 10-Year Retrospective Policy Evaluation in Korea"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3882-5078","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Byeong-Cheol","family":"Song","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Yeongyang County Office, 37 Guncheong-gil, Yeongyang-eup, Yeongyang-gun 36537, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (2026). 2025 Animal Protection and Welfare Survey Results."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Korea Ministry of Government Legislation (2026, August 07). 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