ABQ Launches New Data Site

The number of cats and dogs euthanized at city of Albuquerque shelters fell dramatically over the last five years. So has the amount of golf played at municipal courses.

These trends are among a host of facts and figures that can be gleaned from data the city’s now posting on its website — cabq.gov — as part of a new digital transparency effort. It’s accessible to the public by clicking the links for “ABQView” and “ABQ Dashboard.”

Want to know how many DWI arrests Albuquerque police made over the last year? It’s on there (5,137 over the last four quarters).

Mayor Richard Berry announced the availability of the data on Thursday afternoon. Contact information is available for most of the charts, so readers can call the city if they have questions.

“A lot of these charts are what I use as mayor,” Berry said.

Here is a response from a city official about some of the comments we received on this post:

The figures he mentioned include common outcomes that are interesting to follow, especially adoptions and euthanasia. But providing the numbers for adoptions, euthanasia and reclaims doesnt mean there is nothing else. Not all animals are killed, adopted or reclaimed. There are other outcomes that account for thousands of animals. The largest category is the transfer of animals to rescue groups, such as the Best Friends cats, PACA animals, animals going to Animal Humane, animals that are shipped to Denver, etc. This category alone can account for thousands annually. Smaller categories include animals that simply die, as opposed to being euthanized, and animals that get away and are listed as missing. None of these various categories involve adoptions, euthanasia or reclaims.

Another factor is that animals arriving during any period of time, and the animals that leave during that same period of time, are not the same pool of animals. For example, many animals leaving during this month did not arrive here this month. Many that arrive this month will leave at a later time. So, if you look at arrivals this month, and departures this month, they do not correspond because they are different pools of animals. This is less significant as you look at larger and larger periods of time, such as a year.