Dear Friends,
At the Best Friends National Conference in 2016, I declared that Best Friends would lead the way to ending the killing of cats and dogs in shelters nationwide by 2025. I called it our “moon shot” — our very challenging, yet very achievable goal. Many people were taken by surprise, and some even doubted it could be done.
But not you. You never faltered. Like everyone here at Best Friends, you envisioned a safe future for our best friends — one in which every community, every shelter, is no-kill. So, together, that’s what we set out to achieve.
We’re now at the halfway point between when we announced our goal to make the country no-kill and when we want to achieve it. That’s why we’re calling this our “halftime report.” It’s a look back on many of the things we’ve done together so far, and a look forward to what we’ll be doing together to keep the lifesaving going.
Thanks to you, we have accomplished so much for homeless pets already. Today, one-third of U.S. counties with animal sheltering systems and nearly half of the nation’s shelters are no-kill. And overall, in 2020, 76% fewer dogs and cats were killed in shelters than in 2016.
Of course, none of that would have been possible without you and your incredible support these past few years. As we continue this lifesaving work, getting ever closer to 2025, your collaboration and compassion for the animals will be even more critical.
As you’ll see in this report, together, we’ve positively impacted the lives of thousands of homeless pets. But we still have a lot more work to do before every shelter in the country is no-kill and all of our best friends are safe. That’s why, now more than ever, it’s crucial that we double-down and keep the lifesaving momentum going.
So thank you for your continued dedication to the animals and for being part of this lifesaving work. Please enjoy the report, which describes some of the progress that you’ve made possible and shows how, together, we can continue our crucial work on this historic journey to no-kill.
Julie Castle, Best Friends Animal Society CEO
How we're saving lives together
We are NKLA
Less than 10 years after launching NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles), we’ve made history. Together, we’ve officially made Los Angeles a no-kill city, with a sustained save rate of 90.49% for 2020!
Though the pandemic is the most recent challenge, L.A. faced numerous obstacles on the road to no-kill. In 2011, before the NKLA initiative was launched, the six city shelters that make up Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) took in more than 56,000 dogs and cats, with a save rate of 57%. And about 7,000 of the animals who lost their lives at LAAS were neonatal kittens — a sad fact compounded by an injunction that prohibited LAAS from doing anything to support trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs for community cats.
With your steadfast support, however, we ultimately succeeded in turning Los Angeles into the nation’s largest no-kill city. Led by Best Friends, the NKLA Coalition increased adoptions, reduced the number of pets entering shelters, offered free and low-cost spay/neuter services, and saved the lives of newborn kittens, helping every city shelter to achieve no-kill status.
If we can Save Them All in L.A., just think what we can do together in cities and towns across the country.
Saving tiny lives in Florida
Florida is one of the six states in which half of the killing in shelters is happening. That’s why Best Friends is focused on supporting Florida shelters in whatever ways we can. As part of that focus, we partnered with Polk County Animal Services this past year to create a lifesaving kitten program.
Here’s how it works: When kittens enter the shelter, a volunteer picks them up and immediately places them into foster homes. Best Friends coordinates and funds the kittens’ medical care and helps them find forever homes once they’re big enough to be spayed or neutered. In the first few months of the program, we saved the lives of nearly 300 kittens.
The program is just one example of how we’re working together to save lives and implementing customized programs to produce lifesaving results nationwide.
Kitten care a phone call away
Kitten foster caregivers with Best Friends in Los Angeles were in good hands after we created a new kitten-care advice line. In September 2020, the line received more than 250 calls from foster volunteers who had questions on everything from what to do when kittens weren’t eating to when foster kittens should be brought in for vaccinations.
“Being a new foster caregiver can be overwhelming. When they call for advice, it’s nice to be able to curb their worries by letting them know that most things are normal. It’s really rewarding to feel like you’re making someone feel more confident in their efforts.” – Kate Andersen, longtime Best Friends kitten foster and advice line volunteer
Highway to no-kill
Like you and so many others around the world, Best Friends has had to adjust to the new reality ushered in by COVID-19. The pandemic has challenged almost every aspect of our movement’s lifesaving work. With the support of compassionate people like you, however, we’ve come together as never before to create innovative, community-based solutions that are saving lives and pushing animal welfare forward.
One of these innovations is a shift from having regional programs and teams along the Eastern Seaboard (the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast) to forming one cohesive East Coast program and team. This dedicated team is leveraging our lifesaving programs to directly save as many animals as we can and to support our shelter and rescue partners in their lifesaving efforts.
In addition to foster and adoption programs, a key element is facilitating lifesaving transports of cats and dogs from overcrowded shelters in the South to receiving shelter and rescue partners in the North, where they have a greater chance of being adopted. Thanks to your support, we’re creating a lifesaving superhighway that runs from Alabama to New Jersey and from Florida to Maine. The goal is to save lives more quickly and efficiently than ever before.
Hitching a ride home
Russell found himself in a Florida shelter, with no adopters on the horizon. On top of that, the poor kitty had an eye injury that needed medical attention. How did Russell get the help he needed? Via a Best Friends transport program.
Thanks in part to a grant from PetSmart Charities®, the Best Friends “cat bus,” as we lovingly call it, gives rides monthly to 50–70 cats from Polk County Animal Services in Florida, delivering them to our partners in the Northeast and to Best Friends locations in New York City and Atlanta. Russell happened to catch a ride on that bus and landed safely in Atlanta, where he promptly received medical care for his eye and found a foster home where he could heal.
You can probably guess what happened after that. Being the handsome, friendly cat that he is, Russell caught the eye of an adopter in no time. Today, this once homeless and injured kitty is living the good life with a new family.
What's Next?
Expanding community-supported kitten lifesaving
To Save Them All, Best Friends has always believed that we must work together. We have also long challenged the traditional model of animal sheltering, encouraging people to take a more active role in saving homeless pets in their communities. And that’s where community-based sheltering comes in.
Community-based sheltering leverages the animal-loving public to provide foster care and neighbor-to-neighbor adoptions, with the shelter providing essential community coordination and support, critical emergency care and management of resources to help keep pets in their homes. Best Friends’ kitten care centers are a prime example of this model of sheltering, because they serve as hubs for robust kitten foster programs, enabling entire communities to step up and save little lives together.
In foster care, kittens receive individual attention and socialization, and they are exposed to fewer diseases than in the shelter environment. Plus, many foster caregivers do an incredible job of helping kittens get adopted. And when foster kittens get adopted and space in foster homes opens up, we can help more kittens and give new arrivals everything they need to grow strong and find homes.
In addition to building kitten foster programs, we’re giving folks the information they need to keep cats out of shelters. We’re teaching people what to do when they find kittens outside and how best to help them, rather than just bringing them to a shelter. We’re empowering community members by giving them tools and resources to help community cats. And we’re helping shelters across the country to implement their own community cat programs so they can do the same.
Right now, for every dog killed in a shelter, more than 2.5 cats meet the same tragic fate. To make the country no-kill by 2025, we must ramp up cat and kitten foster programs, which epitomize the community-supported model of sheltering. We plan to expand these foster programs nationwide.
Coming soon: A new model for lifesaving
With an eye toward the future of animal sheltering, Best Friends is building a community-oriented pet resource center in Northwest Arkansas, which will positively impact the lives of around 13,000 pets every year. The Best Friends Pet Resource Center will be a revolutionary space that reimagines how Best Friends — and communities nationwide — save lives. It will serve the entire state of Arkansas and will be a key transport hub for homeless pets from Texas, the state where pets need the most help.
The center is currently under construction and scheduled to be completed in late 2022. We’re excited to be on the threshold of an era of innovation that will transform the concept of what an animal shelter is. Like Los Angeles’ incredible victory, the center will be more than a single milestone. It will be proof of how far our movement has come — and how much change we can make together.
How we’re supporting shelters together
Hands-on help
Thanks to your kindness, Best Friends supports our shelter partners in whatever ways they need, to make the greatest lifesaving impact. While some partners simply need information from our podcasts or town hall meetings, others need hands-on help, which is where our embed and mentorship programs come in.
Through these programs, we provide training and coaching, and we pair leadership or staff with mentors from Best Friends or no-kill shelters to enhance their learning in specific areas of lifesaving. In some cases, Best Friends will embed a staff member in the shelter to work side-by-side with shelter staff.
Powered by a generous grant from Maddie’s Fund®, the Maddie’s® Shelter Embed Project (MSEP) has been uniquely effective in turning struggling shelters around. So far, three shelters have completed the MSEP, and the lifesaving has been incredible. For example, at the Santa Rosa County shelter in Florida, the save rate jumped from 33.9% in 2018 to 88.4% in 2020.
Santa Rosa County Animal Services staff sent a thank-you letter to embed program manager Jessica Gutman at the end of her time at the shelter. Here’s an excerpt:
“You helped us believe this transformation was possible and walked us through each step. What would have taken years to change, you made happen in months. You brought the strong will we needed, and never stopped pushing us to improve...
“You’ve saved thousands of lives in our shelter. We have you to thank for every adoption, foster, TNR, owner redemption, pet enrichment, rescue placement, fundraiser, the surgical suite, medical miracles — not because there aren’t staff, volunteers and foster caregivers who work hard and are dedicated to the job, but simply because you inspired change and positivity.”
#ThanksToMaddie
In the last five years, Best Friends has engaged with more than 1,200 shelters across the country, and that’s due in large part to our partnership with Maddie’s Fund. A national family foundation established by Dave and Cheryl Duffield, Maddie’s Fund offers the industry a national voice, important funding opportunities for bold ideas, learning resources and access to collaborate and share innovative solutions. Thanks to Maddie’s Fund, Best Friends has built new programs that offer trainings to animal welfare professionals, coaching and networking opportunities, and mentorships around all facets of saving homeless pets, all in service of making the country no-kill by 2025.
Through Maddie’s Shelter Embed Projects in Texas and Florida, more than 28,000 cats and dogs were saved in just three shelters. In 2021, the foundation generously awarded a $1.4 million grant to continue enabling the success of the national shelter embed program. Together, we are saving thousands of cats and dogs, changing the lives of shelter workers and transforming how animal shelters relate to their communities.
How education is making a difference
Just as important as our hands-on work are our education initiatives, which aim to produce the next generation of animal welfare workers dedicated to saving lives through innovation and positive change. That’s why Best Friends has expanded our educational programs, in partnership with Southern Utah University (SUU). Through the partnership, students can take part in academic programs and earn certificates like the following.
Best Friends Executive Leadership Certification (ELC): It’s the nation’s first university-endorsed program with a focus on developing the skills needed to end the killing in shelters. In 2020, 73 people graduated from the program.
“There are so many great things that I have already gotten from the ELC program. I have learned a ton and we just reached the midpoint. I have made connections with a peer group that provides guidance, support and ideas. I have decided to actually pursue my degree because of the course. The animal welfare industry needs this, and I am thrilled that Best Friends provided me with this opportunity.” – John Robinson, executive director, Escambia Animal Services
Cat Lifesaving Certification (CLC): This nine-week program engages mid- and senior-level animal welfare professionals in lessons around saving cats and kittens, the most at-risk population in our nation’s shelters.
“I learned so much and am very grateful for the experience. It has empowered me to make positive changes at my shelter already and given me the confidence to do so.” – Cat Lifesaving Certification graduate
Saving cats together
Best Friends’ embed and mentorship programs include cat lifesaving — particularly community cat programs. These programs have proven to be the single most effective and humane tool for managing community cats. In 2018 alone, more than 20,000 cats were saved as a result of our work with partner agencies. In 2019, cat lifesaving improvement was 12 times greater for shelters that engaged with Best Friends on cat programming versus shelters that did not.
With your support, we are currently running cat lifesaving programs in more than 20 communities around the country. The graph below shows the impact of a few of our past programs.
Corona’s second chance
Best Friends community cat programs are lifesaving for stray and feral cats, keeping them out of shelters and in the safety of their outdoor homes. But for cats like Corona, they’re especially valuable.
Corona showed up at David’s door at the start of the pandemic. In fact, that’s why he named her Corona. He fed her for months, until one day she showed up with a broken leg and needed more help than a community cat caregiver could provide. What could David do? Thanks to a Best Friends community cat program in partnership with Stanislaus Animal Services Agency in California, he could call the shelter for help.
As it turned out, Corona not only had a broken leg, she had a diaphragmatic hernia that made it hard for her to breathe. She needed to have two surgeries, and then she needed to remain indoors to get better. David, of course, was more than happy to care for Corona. Today, this spunky cat is completely healed and has a safe place to stay for life.
What's Next?
Innovating through education
As we move forward on this lifesaving journey and continue to need innovative programs and leaders, we’re exploring further certification programs (each one backed by SUU) that would help create innovation for the no-kill movement, emergency response and shelter medicine. Beyond the professional certification, students benefit from a cohort learning approach, which brings them together as a community to teach, inspire and learn from each other.
We’re currently in the process of creating bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in contemporary animal services with SUU, but that’s just the beginning. We’re also working with SUU to create the Institute of Contemporary Animal Services to bring research and leaders in the industry together. The ultimate goal is to create a formal discipline in contemporary animal services based on facts, data and science-based approaches.
Taking support for shelters to the next level
The Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative program is a new way to extend our lifesaving impact and lift up other leading no-kill organizations. Encouraging more no-kill organizations to join the push to achieve no-kill nationwide by 2025 is key to scaling up and accelerating our collective impact. Thanks to a generous donor who inspired us to get creative, the new program makes strategic matches between no-kill groups and shelters that aren’t yet no-kill.
Mentors help their partners to improve programs, operations and community engagement in order to reach and maintain a 90% save rate, the benchmark for no-kill. A pilot program with three matches has been a huge success, and we plan to expand the program to at least 15 more matches next year. Participating shelters are listed below, along with improvements in save rates since the program began.
“It has affected us all tremendously. We have literally been able to change who we are and what we do. We can focus on lifesaving rather than the alternatives. We can leave here each day with our heads held high rather than being completely deflated.” – Tangipahoa Parish Animal Services
“Once financial barriers are removed via generous grants like this, lifesaving increases. It opens minds to the other possibilities. The organizations are stronger and more confident in their own ability to save lives, fundraise, engage the community, creating a snowball effect.” – Jacksonville Humane Society
Paying it forward
Engaging other successful no-kill organizations in our work isn’t new. Thanks to the Rachael Ray Foundation(TM), the No-Kill Excellence Grants provide funds for projects that help no-kill organizations maintain their save rates, build lifesaving programs to go beyond a 90% save rate, and help other organizations reach that no-kill benchmark. As with the Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative, this grant program celebrates groups that are leading the movement within their communities, and these programs are an exciting extension of our belief in the power of working together and paying it forward.
Taking action for the animals together
Advocating for pets, grassroots style
The 2025 Action Team is a community-driven, grassroots movement that’s helping to save more dogs and cats nationwide. Members work alongside their local shelters, rescue groups and other animal welfare organizations to create sustainable change for the pets in their communities. You can start or join a team near you by visiting bestfriends.org/actionteam.
“I was ready to do something, but I didn’t know where to start. I always thought that when I completed my (pre-law) education, I’d want to do something to help animals. When I heard about the 2025 Action Team, I wanted to go into the legal/political side of it by helping to collect signatures for petitions, learning about local and statewide bills and helping in that way.” – Isha, 2025 Action Team member in Chicago, Illinois
Legislative wins on the path to no-kill
Best Friends’ advocacy team and passionate individuals work to pass legislation across the country that ends breed discrimination, saves the lives of community cats, shuts down puppy mills and increases pet-friendly housing. Here are a few recent wins:
- We helped defeat dangerous pro-puppy-mill bills in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Texas.
- In California, we helped secure $50 million in the state budget to enable under-resourced communities to invest in solutions to reduce the number of pets entering shelters and increase lifesaving.
- In Illinois, we spearheaded a bill that will help to keep pets with their families by requiring state-funded housing providers to allow tenants to have pets (a minimum of two cats or one dog).
“We want positive change to be driven from inside the community, by the community, so we engage stakeholders, activate our partners and provide support to help drive positive change. We do this through sending alerts, creating petitions, providing toolkits and taking other actions. We’re a highly collaborative grassroots organization, and I think that’s our strength when it comes to making progress for animals.” – Elizabeth Oreck, Best Friends national manager of puppy mill initiatives
Saving lives with the help of partners
Partnership is truly the cornerstone of saving lives now and into the future. We’d like to give a huge thank-you to our dedicated partners who are committed to saving animals’ lives and helping to make the country no-kill by 2025.
ACANA is filling bellies nationwide: Best Friends is happy to announce our new pet food partner, ACANA, which promises to give up to 2.5 million meals to the animals at the Sanctuary and our lifesaving centers and in our program cities across the country.
Fresh Step steps up to save cats’ lives: Fresh Step and Best Friends will continue saving feline friends together. Fresh Step provides 100% of the litter needed for the cats of Best Friends Animal Society. That’s about 400,000 pounds of litter every year.
Partners in lifesaving
A few other new partnerships we formed this past year were with Credit One Bank, which introduced the Best Friends credit card; PAWZ, which encouraged the creation of Facebook fundraisers for Best Friends; and Alex Bowman and Ally Racing, both of whom contributed thousands of dollars in donations for network partners, and promoted the groups and their pets.
What’s next?
Helping animals and the people who love them
Best Friends understands that to save the lives of homeless dogs and cats, you often have to help the people who love them. That means providing resources like low-cost spay/neuter and pet food pantries to keep pets with their families and out of shelters. That’s why, this past year, we partnered with organizations that address health and human services.
As just one example, we teamed up with Catholic Charities to help create more fair housing. Thanks to a pilot program between SpokAnimal, a Best Friends partner, and Catholic Charities, people served by Catholic Charities Eastern Washington can now access an on-site pet food pantry containing free food and pet supplies, free vaccines and spay/neuter services, and free temporary pet-boarding.
Donor Spotlight
Lona Williams and David O’Connor
Lona Williams and David O’Connor are animal lovers, lifesavers and advocates — and like everyone here at Best Friends, they envision a future that’s safe and bright for homeless pets. Inspired by the pilot for the Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative program and a generous donor’s matching gift challenge, Lona and David invested in the program, fueling its success in the home stretch. Through the program, strategic matches are made between no-kill organizations and shelters that aren’t yet no-kill. Mentors help their partners improve programs, operations and community engagement in order to reach and maintain a 90% save rate, the benchmark for no-kill.
“We thought the idea of pairing successful shelters — as mentors — with struggling shelters was a brilliant idea. It would be a win-win for the animals and the hard-working shelter staff of both organizations. Then we saw the pilot program data, and the lifesaving increases said everything,” Lona says. “Thousands of animal lives were saved because of the sharing of information, support for staff and the knowledge that someone is there to call for help. If we can now expand this program to other shelters in need across the country, thousands more animals will be saved.”
Lona and David have been inspired to work alongside Best Friends ever since they met Best Friends co-founders Francis and Silva Battista outside of a San Fernando Valley grocery store and learned about the plight of homeless pets and how, together, we can take action to help them. Lona and David are also inspired by their own furry crew, which currently includes four adopted dogs.
Thank you.
Now that we’re at the halfway point between when we announced our nationwide no-kill goal and when we want to accomplish it, it’s worth noting how far we’ve come. Together, we’ve touched the lives of homeless dogs and cats from coast to coast, offering them healing and homes, kindness and love. But, with 2025 just around the corner, it’s critical to keep pushing forward to ensure that our four-legged friends have the safe, bright future they deserve.
It’s true that we have a long way to go before reaching our 2025 goal. With your continued dedication and support, however, we will create a compassionate country for pets everywhere. We will make the entire country no-kill by 2025.
Together, we will Save Them All.