OAS Live Release Rate: Animal Shelter Outcomes and Intakes

Montgomery County's OAS dataset tracks the live release rate for animals entering its shelter, a key performance metric for animal welfare. The data includes detailed records of animal impoundments and outcomes, with columns suggesting information on intake condition, outcome type, and dates. It is hosted on multiple open data platforms, indicating its public importance for transparency.

Use Cases

• Calculating the live release rate for specific animal types using Animal type, Impound date and time, and Outcome type.
• Analyzing seasonal trends in stray animal intakes using Impound date and time and Intake subcategory.
• Comparing outcomes for animals in different initial conditions using Animal intake condition and Outcome subtype.
• Tracking the flow of animals through specific programs like foster care or transfers using Outcome subtype and Departure date and time.
• Investigating the role of law enforcement in animal impounds using Impound type and Animal identification number for case tracking.

Strengths

• The dataset is explicitly defined for calculating a specific, standardized shelter performance metric (Live Release Rate).
• It is maintained by a municipal government organization (data.montgomerycountymd.gov) and appears on multiple public data platforms.
• Column names provide a detailed schema for analyzing the animal shelter intake-to-outcome lifecycle.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting: the Socrata platform lists a last update of 2026-05-28 (a future date), while Data.gov lists 2026-04-12, creating a conflict in freshness.
• No information is provided on the dataset's size (row count) or temporal coverage (start date), limiting assessment of its scale and historical depth.
• The license and author information are not specified in any source, creating uncertainty about permissible use and data origin.

Provenance

Source

Montgomery County Government, likely the Office of Animal Services (OAS).

Collection Method

Likely administrative data collected as part of routine animal shelter operations.

Freshness

2026-05-28 04:10:30 (Socrata), but this is a future date, conflicting with Data.gov's 2026-04-12 timestamp.

Geography

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA (inferred from organization domain data.montgomerycountymd.gov).