BEST FRIENDS NETWORK

The term “no-kill” can mean different things to different people, even as straightforward as it may be. In the rescue and advocacy community, “no-kill” has a slightly different definition of 90% of a shelter population being saved. According to Best Friends Animal Society’s website: “No-kill, as a philosophical principle, means saving every dog or cat in a shelter who can be saved. But it’s helpful to have a way to clearly measure lifesaving progress as we move forward together, and that’s where the 90% benchmark comes in. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. Therefore, we designate shelters that meet the 90% save-rate benchmark as no-kill.” In other words, if 90% or more of animals available for adoption at a shelter are adopted out, that means that facility is classified as a “No-Kill Shelter.”

Before the world shuttered due to COVID-19 mandated lockdowns, the animal rescue and shelter populations were significantly down compared to even just a few years prior. Record adoption rates were being recorded. Most municipal shelters were not euthanizing for space. And rescues across the country were celebrating more adoptions than ever.

Once the pandemic took hold, all of those celebrations became even more riotous. Shelters were virtually empty. Rescues couldn’t find enough animals to adopt out. Why? People did not want to be alone during the COVID lockdowns. It appeared that Best Friends’ goal was within reach. Then the pandemic ended. And the unthinkable happened; many people surrendered, or “returned”, those pets to the facility they came from.

The return rate at municipal shelters skyrocketed compared to the year prior. But make no mistake about it; this surge in returns was a one-time anomaly that has had a lasting effect. And the return rate surge was not as large as the mainstream media would have us believe. Return rates average around seven percent for a typical shelter. At the end of the pandemic, the return rate shot to an average of 17 – 24% dependent on the municipality and how severe their specific lockdowns were.

There are numerous reasons why someone will surrender an animal to a shelter or rescue, but many of those who returned animals to the shelter or rescue they adopted from cited that they didn’t fully understand what they were getting into before adopting. And while that is not so uncommon, the volume of animals returned to shelters was. 

During this time, Best Friends Animal Society knew that the pendulum would eventually swing back again given the complexities of the pandemic and getting back society back to normal. Julie Castle and her team had already worked tirelessly for years to build what is called the Best Friends Network. The pandemic only seemed to accelerate the growth of that network. On top of their six Lifesaving Center locations, including their beloved Sanctuary in Utah, the Best Friends Network is made up of thousands of public and private shelters, rescue groups, spay/neuter organizations and other animal welfare groups, all working to save the lives of dogs and cats in communities across the country.

So why does a network like this matter so much? Shelter and rescue networks can help lower euthanization rates and increase adoption rates in ways you could never imagine. Let’s use Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) as an example as to the importance of a group of rescues and shelters banding together to affect positive change. As cited in Mary Beth’s Adoption Crisis story in this edition, ACC had one of the lowest live-release-rates in the country in the late 00’s and early 2010’s. It took dozens of New York tri-state area rescues to truly affect change. They were all part of what is called the New Hope network. New Hope allows rescues and private shelters to “pull” viable animals from ACC’s projected at-risk list (the shelter puts the at-risk list together to alert the network as to what animals are going to be euthanized to make space for more homeless animals).

The term “pull” means that the rescue or organization takes legal responsibility for that animal, removing it from ACC’s custody. ACC is contracted by the New York City Department of Health and Human Services to care for NYC’s animals. Essentially, by contract, ACC must take in any animal that is brought to their doorstep. And if they are at capacity, they are required to euthanize to make space for that new animal. This is where New Hope became the beacon of light ACC so desperately needed at that time. As a new administration began managing ACC, New Hope was pulling dogs and cats for rescues in record numbers. This combined with a new adoption counselor program, as well as the new marketing campaigns and community outreach programs ACC was executing, led them to a 93% live-release-rate.

That very logic is why the Best Friends Network is so integral to the future of animal welfare in this country. Best Friends Network gives access to rescues and shelter partners to resources they would not have on their own, as well as the ability to adopt to a much larger population base. It is no surprise to any of us that Best Friends Animal Society is leading the charge with this all-important endeavor given their brand DNA of lifesaving, let alone their CEO’s very clear passion for saving lives and affecting positive change on a large scale.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase, “It takes a village…” Well, I can tell you that the Best Friends Network is the proverbial “village” that we all know will help stem the tide of surrenders and increase adoptions so we can achieve that utopian goal of a No-Kill Nation that Julie Castle so rightly set eight years ago