The city transferred Animal Services from Code Enforcement to the Police Department in January 2011. Bailey inherited the division while bringing a law-enforcement background rather than a career in animal welfare.

A small staff and volunteers became part of the effort to keep animals alive and move them into homes.

By February 2015, the transformation had become the subject of a presentation hosted by Maddie’s Fund, a national animal-welfare organization. Its title was The Little Shelter that Could.

The organization described an annual budget below $30,000 and credited Bailey’s team with turning a high-kill shelter into a no-kill operation.

The presentation’s promotional description referred to a change made in “120 seconds.” The measurable outcome was the first-year survival figure, which concerned animals leaving alive rather than simply a new label on the building.

The case drew attention because its starting ingredients were so modest: a small municipal shelter, limited money, volunteers, and a police supervisor learning a new assignment.

Seagoville’s shelter became a teaching example for other animal-welfare professionals, with its turnaround preserved in a 42-minute presentation.

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