diff --git a/birdnet-pi/rootfs/custom-services.d/30-monitoring.sh b/birdnet-pi/rootfs/custom-services.d/30-monitoring.sh
index 9b44abadf..9ae350a56 100755
--- a/birdnet-pi/rootfs/custom-services.d/30-monitoring.sh
+++ b/birdnet-pi/rootfs/custom-services.d/30-monitoring.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ while true; do
     ############################
 
     if (( counter <= 0 )); then
-       latest=$(cat "$ingest_dir/analyzing_now.txt)
+       latest="$(cat "$ingest_dir"/analyzing_now.txt)"
        if [[ "$latest" == "$analyzing_now" ]]; then
           echo "$(date) WARNING no change in analyzing_now for 10 iterations, restarting services"
           "$HOME"/BirdNET-Pi/scripts/restart_services.sh