America’s Animal Sheltering System Is Collapsing. It’s Time to Pivot to Prevention.

Restore Animal Control’s Primary Mission: Protecting Both Public Safety and Animal Welfare

Every American deserves to feel safe in their own neighborhood. Every child should be able to ride a bicycle without fear of roaming dogs. Every family should be able to walk their pets safely. Publicly funded animal control agencies have two equally important responsibilities: protecting public safety and protecting animal welfare.

Today, America’s animal sheltering system is collapsing.

Across the United States, shelters are overflowing. Rescues are full. Foster homes are exhausted. And now, our communities are filling up.

This is no longer just an animal welfare crisis.

It has become a public safety and public health crisis.

Some communities have reached a breaking point. Animal control agencies have stopped responding to many loose dog calls, and some shelters have closed their doors to owner surrenders, leaving desperate owners with few options. As a result, more animals are being abandoned or left to fend for themselves in our neighborhoods…. 

The consequences are becoming increasingly visible. More roaming dogs remain on our streets. More unwanted litters are being born. Animal control agencies are overwhelmed, and residents in many communities report slower responses to dangerous and loose dogs while concerns about public safety continue to grow. As more unowned animals remain in our communities, the risk of zoonotic diseases…including rabies….also increases, creating a growing concern for both animal and human health.

Over the past several years, influential national animal welfare organizations have become increasingly involved in shaping policies at taxpayer-funded animal shelters. Their public campaigns, messaging, and fundraising frequently emphasize achieving higher live release rates and reaching “no-kill” benchmarks. As a result, many local shelters have adopted these goals as their primary measure of success.

But these national organizations are not responsible for responding to dangerous dog calls, protecting neighborhoods, enforcing local animal ordinances, or safeguarding public health. Those responsibilities belong to local governments and taxpayer-funded animal control agencies.

A live release rate tells us only one thing:

An animal left the shelter alive.

It does not tell us whether that animal found a safe, permanent home.

It does not tell us whether that animal was later neglected, abandoned, hoarded, abused, or euthanized elsewhere.

It does not tell us whether fewer animals suffered.

And it does not tell us whether our communities became safer.

The questions taxpayers deserve answered are much bigger:

 • Are fewer animals suffering?
 • Are our communities safer?
 • Are fewer people being bitten or seriously injured?
 • Are fewer dogs roaming our neighborhoods?
 • Are fewer unwanted litters being born?
 • Where is the evidence that the current approach has reduced overall suffering while improving public safety?

If shelters are overflowing, rescues are overwhelmed, animal control services are declining, and our communities are filling up with roaming animals, then we must ask an honest question:

Are we measuring success by the right standard?

No community can adopt its way out of overpopulation.

No community can rescue its way out of overpopulation.

No community can transport its way out of overpopulation.

The lasting solution is prevention.

Our Petition

We call on elected officials, municipal leaders, animal shelter directors, veterinarians, and national animal welfare organizations to restore animal control’s primary mission: protecting both public safety and animal welfare.

We call for a national Pivot to Prevention by:

 • Restoring effective animal control services that promptly respond to roaming, dangerous, injured, and neglected animals.
 • Making public safety an equal priority alongside animal welfare.
 • Expanding high-volume, affordable spay and neuter programs.
 • Teaching responsible pet ownership in our schools so future generations understand the lifelong responsibility of caring for animals.
 • Creating court-ordered educational programs that help change behavior while holding repeat animal ordinance violators accountable.
 • Measuring success by outcomes that matter: safer communities, fewer roaming animals, fewer bite incidents, fewer unwanted litters, fewer animals entering shelters, and fewer animals suffering—not by a single shelter statistic.

If we truly want fewer animals to suffer and fewer animals to be euthanized, we must stop putting programs in place that make euthanasia necessary in the first place.

The goal should not be to manage an endless cycle of overpopulation.

The goal should be to prevent it.

Restore public safety.

Restore animal welfare.

Restore animal control’s primary mission.

Pivot to Prevention.

If you believe America’s animal sheltering system should protect both people and animals, focus on prevention instead of perpetual crisis management, and measure success by safer communities and less suffering—not just a single statistic—please sign this petition and share it.