In America today, dogs and cats are more than just our best friends, they are family. Yet the agencies we fund to care for the neediest of these animals are instead killing two million of them every year. And the reason historically given to explain this killing is the very thing that allows it to continue. Introducing the first of many videos as part of a newly launched initiative of the No Kill Advocacy Center…
PETA recently argued in Long Beach, as they have elsewhere, against shelter reform and the pursuit of a No Kill city. They claimed that the only goal worth pursuing is a “no birth” nation. Here’s why that argument is simply not true and what is behind the deceptive claim. Spay/neuter and limiting breeding are important for all kinds of reasons, which is why sterilization is a core program of the No Kill Equation model of…
The Henderson, NV, animal shelter reported that it achieved a record high placement rate in 2018. Congratulations to the good people of Henderson. That’s worth celebrating because it means more animals are going out the front door in the loving arms of adopters, rather than out the back door in garbage bags. It also reported, however, that it “qualifies as a ‘no-kill’ shelter for 2018 after it achieved a 91.5 percent save rate.” Unfortunately, to…
The Hon. Ginger Nelson, Mayor, And Members of the City Council Amarillo City Hall 601 S. Buchanan Amarillo, TX 79101 Dear Mayor and Members of the City Council: The No Kill Advocacy Center is the nation’s premier national organization working to end the systematic killing of animals in U.S. shelters. We have assisted communities across the nation achieve placement rates greater than 90% and as high as 99%, with hundreds of cities and towns…
Almost weekly, my Google alert is telling me of another community that has achieved No Kill because it reached a “90% live release rate.” Using that benchmark, Best Friends recently announced that we now have 4,000 of them in the U.S. But is it true? Unfortunately, it is not. First and foremost, a 10% rate of killing is not No Kill, as I explain below. But even if it was, Best Friends is relying on…
A dog available for adoption from the Humane Society of Fremont County, one of the brightest spots in Colorado’s constellation of progressive sheltering communities. A new study analyzing 15 years of intake and outcome data for animal shelters in Colorado finds that adoptions dramatically increased, killing dramatically declined, and Colorado could easily be a No Kill state. The study identified several programs of the No Kill Equation, such as community cat sterilization, public relations and…
Tens of thousands of animals were spared death this weekend. A New York Times OpEd writer suggests that’s a bad thing. A hopelessly contradictory and factually inaccurate OpEd piece in the New York Times is reigniting a false debate about whether No Kill policies help or harm animals. (Hint: saving lives rather than poisoning them to death with barbiturates, inducing a heart attack by heartsticking, or gassing them in a chamber is a good thing,…
I previously reported that in Austin, TX, the killing of dogs deemed “aggressive” has declined significantly over the years: from 2009, the year before the City mandated a minimum 90% live release rate at the shelter, to 2015 the rate dropped from 7% to 1%. At the same time, the live release rate for dogs climbed from 69% to 98%. As the number of Austin residents increased by 21%, the number of overall dogs in…
Too many shelters are not voluntarily implementing the No Kill Equation, the series of programs and services which have proven so successful at lifesaving in shelters which have implemented them. As a result, animals are being needlessly killed. And shelters which are supposed to reflect the values of animal loving Americans are instead undermining them. In response, the No Kill Advocacy Center has developed model legislation to help animal lovers and animal advocates achieve their…
By Nathan & Jennifer Winograd In 2007, when Bullet, this man’s dog, fell ill, he took him to the ASPCA’s animal hospital in Manhattan for care. He had fed Bullet with a spoon since birth. “He was my baby,” Lopez told The News. Instead of treating him, an abusive ASPCA employee kicked Bullet to death. The ASPCA subsequently covered it up and lied to him. “I brought the dog there thinking they would save my…