Accountant quits job to bring animal shelter’s kill rate from 100 percent to 0

Kayla Denney, an accountant who quit her job as an accountant to lead the City of Taft Animal Control Department has been awarded $35,000 by The Petco Foundation for managing to bring the city’s shelter kill rate down from 100% to 0.  

According to Denise Hitt, Taft’s city manager, before Denney arrived the shelter had a tiny budget and no electricity. Every Wednesday, the staff would euthanize all the animals brought in over the prior week. 

“The animals looked sad, the building looked sad, so I decided we were going to make a change,” Hitt said.