The contract signed in 2013 between the Humane Society and the city covers only preventive and basic medical care for the 1,300 to 1,800 dogs and cats captured by the animal control division each year. The city paid the society $50,000 for that care in 2014.

The cost to provide life-saving care for about 140 severely ill or injured animals is not covered in the contract and costs the society about $80,000 a year from a budget that is already running a deficit, The Kansas City Star reported.

Kate Fields, the organization’s chief operating officer, said the society will continue to provide the care, for now.

“We made a commitment. It’s the right thing to do,” Fields said, before adding: “At some point we might have to say, ‘We can’t do it.’ But we don’t want to have to make that decision based solely on finances.”

The society is asking the public for extra donations to fund its life-saving work for animals.

Police Capt. Michelle Angell, director of Kansas City, Kansas, animal control, said the city will probably always have to euthanize some animals.

But the city’s euthanasia rate has dropped from as high as 60 percent of animals to 15 percent and below since it began working with the society.