From the facility’s appearance to the staff’s passion for putting animals in adoptive homes, almost everything has changed since veterinarian R. Wayne Steckelberg took over the shelter’s management from the city March 1.

“I’m happy as can be with it,” Steckelberg said of the last year’s accomplishments.

Still, it has been an exhausting task. Steckelberg, 75, estimates he has had only 10 days off — counting Sundays — in the last year.

In the switch, there were unexpected complications involving everything from the phone and computer systems to the number of farm animals the shelter gets.

The results have made it worthwhile.

“This is a great, great first step,” said Councilwoman Cindy Circo, who last year led the effort to privatize the shelter, hoping to decrease costs, increase adoptions and reduce the killing of unwanted pets.

Katie Bowen of Peculiar visited the shelter in December, looking for a puppy for her 12-year-old son, Patrick. Her family wound up with an Aussie mix female puppy for Patrick, but also adopted an adult Basset mix hound named Homer.

“It was a great experience,” Bowen said of visiting the shelter. “We couldn’t be happier with these dogs.”

Bowen had adopted from the shelter when it was run by the city. She recalled walking past cage after cage of homeless animals and not interacting with the staff. When Bowen returned in December, volunteers and staff were extremely accommodating in helping her pick just the right pets.

Bowen went back several times before making a decision — without fearing that the dogs might be euthanized before she returned.

The improvements over the last year are due to a lot of hard work, and not just by the new shelter operator, said Mike Schumacher, who oversees the city’s Animal Health and Public Safety Division.

Schumacher also credited efforts by Spay & Neuter Kansas City, which goes door to door in high-risk neighborhoods to persuade pet owners to sterilize their cats and dogs, reducing the number of stray and abandoned animals.

“None of us — the city, the shelter, or Spay & Neuter — could be this successful without the other,” Schumacher said.

From March 1 to Dec. 31, the shelter took in 6,700 animals, down from 7,027 in the same period in 2008 and down from more than 10,000 from the same period in 2006. The shelter increased adoptions from about 100 per month in 2008 to more than 300 per month by the end of 2009, and it has returned more impounded animals to their owners.

Steckelberg said that some animals are too old or sick to be adopted and must be put to sleep. Still, the euthanasia rate for all animals at the shelter dropped 30 percent in March through December, compared with the same period in 2008. The adoption rate of suitable dogs reached 95 percent in December, but the adoption rate for suitable cats — about 65 percent — remains a challenge.

“We’ve become very proficient as far as adoptable pets,” said Dennis Moriarty, who is second in command at the shelter, now called Half Way Home Pet Adoptions. “Programs that help people cover spay/neuter and food costs make it more attractive in the community.”

The city’s contract with Veterinary Management Corp., which was approved last February, called for five one-year renewal options. Schumacher said the city will renew for another year at a cost of $626,000. That saves the city about $175,000 from what it had paid to run the shelter.

Major changes at the facility have included:

•“Hug rooms”: What once were offices have been converted to rooms in which families can play with prospective pets.

•Puppy and cat playgrounds: A former animal control locker room is now a place for puppies to cavort while they stay separated from adults. Where cats were once housed in cages in a cramped hallway, they now climb and socialize in spacious caged rooms in the basement.

•Amenities: All dogs have beds now, and 20 large dog runs have been built outside for exercise when weather permits. Steckelberg said shelter officials will keep an animal a long time if they are confident it can be adopted.

•Adoption outreach: Four or five employees concentrate on that. They maintain an updated Web site and are passionate about getting the word out about each animal’s qualities. For the public’s convenience, the shelter is open at least a few hours every day, except holidays.

Inspiring rescue stories keep the staff motivated.

Phoenix, a kitten that was badly burned when two boys set her on fire, arrived not long after the shelter was privatized. After two or three months of care, Phoenix was placed with a new family and is doing well.

Then there was Winston, a horse that showed up mysteriously in a pen at the shelter in the middle of a day in June.

“It was skin and bones,” Steckelberg recalled. “It met me every day because it knew I was going to feed it. It would run after me. It got to be a pet.”

The horse put on weight all summer, and then was adopted by a retired doctor who lives north of Smithville.

Steckelberg said every animal that leaves the shelter is spayed or neutered, and he commended Spay & Neuter for helping to reduce animal overpopulation in Kansas City.

Michelle Dormady, the president of Spay & Neuter, said the city realized a few years ago that 80 percent of its calls regarding problem animals were coming from nine urban-core ZIP codes. Volunteers going door to door persuaded many families to spay or neuter their pets, and the group provided free doghouses and food for families who were struggling to keep their pets.

Still, Dormady said that grant funding is drying up, so her organization is appealing for support from volunteers and the public.

Steckelberg and his staff plan a big anniversary celebration in May. Steckelberg hopes that in the next three to five years the city can raise the funds to build a new shelter in a high-visibility location. A preliminary design already is done.

For now, Steckelberg believes he and his staff are changing the shelter’s image.

“We’re getting a good reputation,” he said. “The first thing people say is, ‘Hey, this is not the same place.’ ”

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