For the third year in a row, Long Beach Animal Care Services has reported record lows in the number of dogs and cats impounded and euthanized at the city’s animal shelter.

The 2017 midyear report released Thursday presents statistics from January to June in the years 2011 to 2017. It was described by officials as “the best numbers ever reported.”

• This year, 200 fewer cats and dogs were impounded, a 6 percent reduction when compared across the same time span in the previous year.

• Euthanasia also showed a steep decline, as nearly 290 fewer cats and dogs were euthanized — a reduction of 64 percent for dogs and 34 percent for cats, according to the report.

• The “live release rate,” or the percentage of animals that come to the shelter and leave due to owner returns, adoptions or transfers to a rescue organization, is up to 95 percent for dogs and 76 percent for cats over last year.

Patricia Turner, co-founder of Stayin’ Alive Long Beach, an animal advocacy organization dedicated to reducing the number of pets that are euthanized, said animal services has plenty of work left to do.

Turner believes the city has not been completely honest and forthcoming in its record keeping. The group, which is often critical of the city’s efforts to reduce euthanizations, compiled its own report in February showing the rate of animal deaths is only in the single digits compared to last year’s statistics.

The city, she said, offers inaccurate figures by not including the shelter’s annual intake of new animals, and therefore does not place the number of euthanizations in proper context. The raw number of euthanized animals has decreased, but the rate compared to those that are brought in has only slightly decreased, the group says.

“The year-end rates will look significantly less rosy and different from those we see in the middle of the year,” she said.

She believes Long Beach could mimic the rescue rates of other successful adoption clinics with greater transparency and adoption programs.

She commended Sacramento, a city that’s adopted out 2,274 dogs, cats, kittens and puppies in the same time frame as Long Beach.

Turner said, however, Long Beach should be commended for events like Kitty Hall, the adoption wagon and Foster the Fourth.

Ted Stevens, director of Animal Care Services, could not be reached for comment.

In a prepared statement, Garcia said he is “proud of the hardworking team at Animal Care Services and numerous volunteers, rescue groups, animal partner groups and advocates who continue to save more animal lives.”