Seattle Animal Shelter director resigns, alleging city inaction

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.”