In the last decade and a half, several
shelters in numerous communities have
comprehensively implemented a bold series of programs and services to reduce
birthrates, increase placements, and
keep animals with their responsible caretakers. As a result, they are achieving unprecedented results, saving upwards of 95
percent of all impounded animals in open
admission animal control facilities. Some
of these communities are urban, others
rural, some are politically liberal, and others are very conservative. Some are in
municipalities with high per capita incomes, and others are in those known for
high rates of poverty. These communities
share very little demographically. What
they do share is leadership at their shelters
who have comprehensively implemented
a key series of programs and services, collectively referred to as the “No Kill Equation.”
The fundamental lesson from the experiences of these communities is that the
choices made by shelter managers are
the most significant variables in whether
animals live or die. Several communities
are more than doubling adoptions and
cutting killing by as much as 75 percent—
and it isn’t taking them five years or more
to do it. They are doing it virtually overnight. In Reno, Nevada, local shelters initiated an incredible lifesaving initiative that
saw adoptions increase as much as 80
percent and deaths decline by 51 percent in one year, despite taking in a combined 16,000 dogs and cats.
In addition to the speed with which it was
attained, what also makes Reno’s success
so impressive is that the community takes
in over two times the number of animals
per capita than the U.S. national average
and as much as five times the rate of
neighboring communities and major U.S.
cities. In 2010, 91 percent of dogs and
cats were saved, despite an economic
and foreclosure crisis that has gripped the
region. They are proving that communities
can quickly save the vast majority of animals once they commit to do so, even in
the face of public irresponsibility or economic crisis. This is consistent with the results in Charlottesville (VA), Tompkins
County (NY), and others.