“You can spend time with the animal and interact and get to know the animal you’re looking at,” said Carolyn Ortega, director of the department.

Ortega said, starting in August, the department implemented new technology, using QR codes to plan visits.

“You’ll pull your phone out to the camera. You’ll have your camera scan the barcode, then it will give a notification,” she said.

The notification explains when it’s OK to enter the facility.

Once inside the facility, people will have to undergo a temperature check. 

“We were seeing fewer adoptions because we were on an appointment only and every appointment takes about 45 minutes, so we were only able to see so many people coming through,” Ortega said.

When the department only offered appointments, Ortega said they only saw about 45 people a week.

The new scan-in system has allowed them to see about 40 people a day.

“The way that our process works is that everyone that is checked in has 45 minutes to look at animals to possibly adopt, and we can pull a total of three animals out within that 45 minutes,” Ortega said.