In 2012, Best Friends promised a No Kill Los Angeles by 2017. It didn’t happen and the five-year plan was extended to 10-years. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And if you still do not succeed, well, just go ahead and lie about it. That is what Best Friends has done with this week’s announcement by CEO Julie Castle that the City of Los Angeles achieved No Kill in 2020 with a…
California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to have withdrawn his No Kill initiative. Earlier this year, he announced to great fanfare he wanted California to become a No Kill state and budgeted $50,000,000 to do so. That money now seems to be have been quietly cut from his revised budget. After it disappeared from the budget summary, I reached out to Hannah Wiley, a political reporter for the Sacramento Bee, who writes on budget issues and…
Introducing No Kill 101, the latest video from the No Kill Advocacy Center “No Kill Know How” series, which answers the question: How does a community achieve No Kill? Today, millions of Americans live in cities and towns that have dramatically reduced and even eliminated the killing of healthy and treatable animals in their shelters. Some of these communities are large, some are small. Some are urban; some are rural. Some are rich; others…
No sooner does the Governor of California announce he wants to end the killing of homeless dogs and cats in pounds throughout the state, than curmudgeons blast the Governor for wanting pounds “to not kill animals:” Several news outlets and special interest groups criticized the Governor for arguing that “animals should be protected as if they were human beings” because they believe that animals are not worthy of such attention, it is hypocritical to do…
Last year, Julian Castro – former Mayor, Cabinet Secretary, and then-candidate for the President of the United States – promised the creation of a No Kill nation if elected. I noted then that when a cause becomes so popular that those running for the highest office in the land begin to incorporate promises about it into their campaign platform, that cause has arrived. Yesterday, we truly became a potent force for change. At a press…
Puppies received extra protection in Austin, TX, thanks to a new law. Despite whatever other calamities may have dominated the headlines throughout this most tumultuous of years, 2019 brought a lot of positive news for animals and people who love them. To quote Frank Sinatra: “it was a very good year.” There’s been a 90% drop in the pound killing of U.S. dogs and cats since the 1970s. Despite a doubling of the number of…
A kitten at the Madison County pound. Over half of the cats who enter the front door go out the back door in garbage bags. The Madison County, VA, pound kills over half the cats it takes in. And yet it calls itself a “No Kill” shelter, assuring people that cats they bring in will be guaranteed a home. And when it kills their cats, it lies to them by claiming they were adopted. Now…
Delaware announced they were the first No Kill state in the country. Now Michigan is saying they are a No Kill state, too, and they did it first. Neither claim is true. Some pounds in Michigan kill more than seven out of 10 cats. And yet some are calling Michigan a No Kill state. The pound in St. Clair County, MI, killed more cats than they placed: 53%. The pound in Berrien County, MI, killed…
When a cause becomes so popular that politicians begin to incorporate promises about it into their campaign platform, that cause has arrived. When that politician is a candidate for the President of the United States — such as Julián Castro who is promising the creation of a No Kill nation as part of his wider animal welfare platform — we have truly become a potent force for change. As part of a 19-page plan that…
Then Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signing a modified version of the No Kill Advocacy Center’s Companion Animal Protection Act into law; a law that the Office of Animal Welfare, the state agency which oversees sheltering in the state, credited with having “improved the quality of care animals receive in shelters and has saved thousands of animals that would have otherwise been euthanized due to outdated policies and practices.” In 2010, Delaware’s brick and mortar shelters,…