For the second time in five years, Pima Animal Care Center will be looking for a new director.

Director Monica Dangler announced her departure on social media Friday, saying that she's accepted a position with Outcomes for Pets, a consulting group started by former PACC Director Kristen Hassen.

Dangler was named permanent director in June 2021, after joining PACC in 2019 as part of a Maddie's Fund Executive Lifesaving Fellowship. Dangler was hired as deputy director later that year and when Hassen announced her departure in October 2020, she strongly recommended to county leadership that Dangler be picked as her replacement.

Dangler led PACC through the pandemic, coming up with ways to help pet owners dealing with health issues, job losses and evictions.

The shelter has been faced with critical overcrowding issues over the past year, spurred by rising housing costs, breed restrictions and backyard breeders.

Dangler called the announcement bittersweet, saying she was sad to be leaving.

"When I was offered the Maddie's Fund Executive Lifesaving Fellowship, I would have never imagined that I would have stayed in Tucson and become the Director at PACC," she wrote in the post.

Dangler wrote in the post that she'd stay on as director through the first of December and that there would be a full recruitment to fill the position.

"Thanks to the amazing leadership of our County, the thousands of volunteers and foster caregivers, and the courageous, compassionate, and selfless staff Pima County remains a lifesaving community that prioritizes helping people and embracing our community in order to save pets," Dangler wrote.

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. She previously worked for the Arizona Daily Star and has been reporting on Southern Arizona for a decade. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.