The Evanston Animal Shelter announced Feb. 5 a partnership with a pet care company that will provide discounted food for the shelter’s dogs and cats.

Merrick Pet Care not only offered to sell pet food at a reduced price but also will include a free shipment of food every three months, said Meredith Rives, chair of the city’s Board of Animal Control. They will also offer a coupon for a free bag of food for every individual who adopts an animal from the shelter. The partnership begins amid a search for a volunteer animal organization to take over management of the shelter.

“We wanted to be able to reduce that cost and simultaneously get the best food we could afford,” Rives said. “The aim was that we didn’t want to settle for grocery store food because we really wanted to move toward a higher level of nutrition for these animals, many of whom are in need.”

Volunteers introduced the idea of a partnership with Merrick because it is currently the feeding partner of PAWS Chicago, a no-kill shelter, said Evanston’s animal warden David Rose. A Merrick sales representative visited the shelter and served its food to one of the shelter’s dogs, he said.

“She enjoyed the food, and she’s a picky eater,” Rose said.

The shelter has been managed by the city’s animal control and police department after the City Council terminated its relationship with the nonprofit organization Community Animal Rescue Effort in April. The Board of Animal Control was established later that month to review reports of the shelter and animal control.

The city set aside $35,000 in the 2015 budget to pay for the entirety of the shelter’s expenses.

Since May, the city has been in the process of finding a new volunteer organization to run the shelter, Rives said.

During the initial stage of the search, the city received responses from two organizations, The Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago and SAFE, Rives said. Organizations must formally express interest by Feb. 27, after which a committee will be assembled to review the possibilities, said Evanston police Cmdr. James Pickett.

“There may be no one who steps up, and if there is someone that steps up it doesn’t mean that we can come to an agreement with them,” Rives said.

The role of the volunteer animal organization would include taking over the adoption and foster care portion of the facility, leaving animal control still in the city’s hands, Rives said. The organization would be responsible for negotiating adoptions, caring for animals, marketing, fundraising and medical care. However, the city would still maintain ownership of the animals and have the power to determine whether to euthanize in the case of a terminally ill animal, Rives said.

Because of its large core of volunteers who assist the city’s management, the shelter has been maintained at a consistent level since CARE’s departure, Pickett said.

“If there’s not any interest in the animal organizations, then the shelter will continue to function as it has been,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of SAFE, or Saving Animals for Evanston. The Daily regrets the error.

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