No-Kill 2025 Stories

Smiling person wearing winter clothing happily hugging a tabby cat

Key to sending pets home is in the numbers

How South Suburban Humane Society used information from Best Friends’ Shelter Pet Data Alliance platform and a $100,000 grant to help more pets get adopted
They're turning data into action
Best Friends Magazine
Person wearing rubber gloves and holding an orange and white kitten next to a row of kennels in a shelter

Saving lives with machine learning and artificial intelligence

Let’s talk data from 2023.
Updated shelter data from last year
Julie Castle Blog
Person wearing scrubs and rubber gloves petting a cat on a scale

Shelter converts crematorium to dog, cat healing area

The removal of an obsolete crematorium symbolizes Animal Rescue League of Berks County’s renewed focus on saving the lives of more dogs and cats.
Their no-kill philosophy is firmly in place
Best Friends Magazine
The six people of the surgical team for the Brownsville spay-neuter-a-thon around a surgical table with a sedated black cat

Pet spay-neuter-a-thon erases backlog in Brownsville

A dedicated group of veterinarians and vet techs, organized by Best Friends, banded together over 10 days to spay or neuter more than 350 dogs and cats.
Read how they did it
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Person wearing a cowboy hat hugging a large brown dog

Changing life for pets and people in west Texas

With funds from the Rachael Ray No-Kill Excellence Grant, Fix West Texas offers lifechanging assistance to the community’s pets and their people.
Read how they embrace their community
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Selfie of Sir Karen the cat (looking a little grumpy) with Taylor Seupaul

Faces of No-Kill: Sir Karen the cat fools everybody

A grumpy kitty had some surprises in store for his caregivers at Best Friends, but now he’s fitting right in at his new home.
Now he's all headbutts and biscuit marking
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Vera the dog next to a smiling person who has both hands affectionately holding her

Faces of No-Kill: Saving a dog with a sensitive soul

Vera went from a busy shelter to a charmed life in her new home.
Now she's a cherished member of the family
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Family holding a puppy they adopted along with some Best Friends signs

Reaching Hispanic/Latino communities to save more pets

Q&A with Mia Navedo-Williams on connecting Spanish-speaking communities with information about dogs and cats in shelters and how they can save pets’ lives
Hear what's being done to help save lives
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Monster the senior pug, smiling with tongue out

Embracing change saves more pets at Arizona shelter

Best Friends is helping city officials in Bullhead City transform the culture of its animal shelter to better serve the community and increase lifesaving.
Making the shelter more customer friendly
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Staff from San Angelo Animal Services standing in front of empty kennels

Texas animal shelter gets creative to keep pets at home

San Angelo Animal Services and Best Friends collaborate on lifesaving programs to reduce the number of pets entering the shelter.
Offering good programs and a good attitude
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Two people sitting on a blue couch petting a large white dog

Grant helps save more dogs in Chicago shelters

One Tail at a Time puts Rachael Ray Save Them All Grant to good use to support dogs from Chicago animal shelter.
They're thinking outside of the box
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Two people drying a small puppy with a towel

Amazing progress at Brownsville animal shelter

With guidance from Best Friends, a Texas shelter dramatically increased the number of pets saved in six months, despite a midstream distemper outbreak.
Read how things have improved
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Group of Best Friends co-founders from an All Staff meeting

The evolution of Best Friends Animal Society

What the founders are most proud of is the decision to pass the baton.
From co-founder Francis Battista
Best Friends Magazine
German shepherd type dog on a leash with a person behind him

SPCA Tampa Bay says yes to puppy mills in new partnership

Promoting puppy mills under the guise of adoption is unconscionable.
New pilot partnership at Florida shelter a huge betrayal
Julie Castle Blog
Atkins the white dog in front of a group of people when moving into the Shipley Dog Lodges

Announcing the Shipley Dog Lodges

A nod to the future through the experiences of the past
Celebrating a place designed to celebrate dogs with behavior challenges
Julie Castle Blog