GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Kent County Animal Shelter director has resigned a week after public outcry concerning the relatively high rates of euthanasia at her facility.

The resignation comes six days after MLive/The Grand Rapids Press published a story about the shelter's euthanasia rate, which has been among the highest in the state for the last five years.

Carly Luttmann resigned Monday, Sept. 10, according to Kent County Health Department spokesperson Steve Kelso. She had led the shelter since 2010.

Kelso would not disclose why Luttmann resigned.

"Carly Luttmann tendered her resignation yesterday," Kelso said. "Kent County makes no further comment on personnel issues."

In 2017, the shelter killed two out of every five animals it took in, according to state records. The rate was nearly three times the state average that year, according to animal advocacy non-profit Michigan Pet Fund Alliance.

Julie Steffen, founder of Mosh Pit Rescue, said she's hopeful new leadership will result in more animal lives saved.

"With this new change in leadership we're optimistic that we'll see long-overdue changes at Kent County Animal Shelter," Steffen said.

Animal advocates told the Grand Rapids Press last week that the shelter was likely euthanizing dogs and cats with treatable behavioral and medical issues because of their high kill rate.

Only two much-smaller shelters operated by Berrien and Cass counties put down more strays and pets that year, state records show.

On Monday, animal advocates met with Luttmann's boss, Environmental Health Division Director Sara Simmonds, to discuss better practices at the shelter, such as weekend adoption times and posting photos of captured stray animals online, according to Steffen.

The majority of dogs Kent County euthanized in 2017 were "beyond behavioral intervention" and posed a threat to the public, Luttmann previously said. The majority of cats were killed because they're feral and couldn't be placed into homes, she said.

No animals were killed to make space, according to Luttmann.

Deborah Schutt, board chair of Michigan Pet Fund Alliance, said the percentage of dogs euthanized by Kent County for alleged aggression is high even for dogs rescued from fighting rings.

"The vast majority of open admission shelters are saving 90 percent or more of their animals," Schutt said. "Is the quality of animals different around the state? I think for the most part they aren't."

Luttmann said the shelter has no standard criteria for when an animal is too aggressive or injured and must be put down. Instead, she said, it's a case-by-case basis.

Not all animals receive a behavioral assessment, though, according to a copy of the shelter's policies and procedures manual obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

"Any dog who has demonstrated aggressive or unsuitable behaviors at the animal shelter or in their previous home environment will not be eligible for behavior evaluation and will be humanely euthanized when their holding period expires unless reclaimed by their owner," the manual states.

"All other dogs will be evaluated prior to being offered for adoption."

Another section of the manual states "animals with a history of biting and/or displaying aggressive behavior" are generally not evaluated for adoption, but a supervisor can overrule the practice in specific cases.

The manual does not define "aggressive or unsuitable behaviors." It was last revised in September 2017 and is currently undergoing another revision, officials say.

Some shelter behavioral problems in dogs stem from fear, owner separation, confinement and new environment, according to Schutt.

The old approach to animal control and sheltering, Schutt said, was to euthanize these "problem" animals. In Michigan, that's changed over the past decade, and now most shelters are saving nearly 90 percent of their cats and dogs.

"When a shelter is performing poorly, they're not doing anything differently, they're holding on to those old practices," Schutt previously said. "When they tell you, 'Oh they're too sick or have behavior issues,' why aren't they trying to correct them? More than likely they caused a portion of them."

Of the 2070 dogs and 1569 cats taken in, shelter staff killed 758 dogs and 679 cats, according to 2017 statistics collected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The animal shelter is a division of the Kent County Health Department. The agency is responsible for animal adoption, cruelty and bite investigations, dog licensing and more. The shelter's budget was $2.3 million in 2018.