According to Annual Data Report from Best Friends Animal Society 55% of State Shelters Are Now No-Kill.
Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of cats and dogs in shelters by 2025, recently released its annual data report which gives the most accurate and comprehensive national and state overview of the number of dogs and cats that enter and exit shelters in a given year. Unlike most of the country, Arizona experienced a decrease in animal intake, while the number of pets unnecessarily killed in shelters increased.
| The state of animal shelters in Arizona | 2022 | 2021 |
| Intake (Cat and Dog) | 106,611 | 108,659 |
| Saved | 91,531 | 95,197 |
| Killed | 6,441 | 4,569 |
| Save Rate* | 86% | 88% |
| No-Kill Shelters (%) | 55% | 52% |
The state had both highs and lows over the course of 2022. Arizona added three new no-kill shelters: Sierra Vista Animal Care and Control, Santa Cruz Humane Society, and Hermitage No-Kill Cat Rescue.
Arizona Humane Society (AHS) remains the shelter with largest lifesaving gap. With a 74% save rate and 2,836 animal gap, AHS makes up for 40% of all deaths in the state. The Humane Society of Yuma is number two with a 79.8% save rate, and an animal gap of 701. The gap refers to the number of animals that would need to be saved to achieve no-kill status.
Specific highlights throughout 2022 include how the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (HSSA) mentored City of Douglas Animal Shelter, Santa Cruz County Animal Control, Benson Animal Shelter, and Willcox Animal Shelter through our Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative Program. The shelter collaborative program matches shelters that are leaders in animal welfare with shelters that are working to save more animals. The goal of the partnership is to achieve as close as possible to a 90% save rate. With grant support of close to $200,000 these shelters were able to make great strides in pet lifesaving.
Some of the most positive impacts that resulted from the grant were vaccinating pets upon intake, moving more animals out through adoption and transfers to other rescues and shelters, as well as introducing standard cleaning procedures. Housing also improved, as both Willcox and Benson were provided insulated, air-conditioned sheds through this grant that provided alternative cat housing away from the general dog population.
HSSA has also been supportive of each of the shelters to create change at a higher level. This includes giving feedback on new shelter discussions in Santa Cruz County and helping increase volunteer program opportunities in Douglas. Their mentorship has offered much needed support to these under resourced shelters and brought a sense of collaboration to the greater community.
Pinal County Animal Care and Control has remarkably managed to increase the number of animals saved. Despite the challenges posed by an increase in length of stay for dogs, their save rate increased from 90% to 93%. By prioritizing compassion, care, and innovative adoption strategies, they continue to find loving homes for an increased number of animals.
Two of the largest agencies in the state: Pima Animal Care Center in Tuscon, and Maricopa County Animal Care & Control in Phoenix continued their lifesaving work and maintained their no-kill status. These agencies are to be commended for their transparent community engagement and communication efforts.
Multiple agencies continued to work collaboratively to save more lives, such as the Phoenix Animal Care Coalition (PACC911). PACC911 unifies more than 100 animal welfare organizations across the state of Arizona, primarily in Maricopa County. Their goal is to foster collaboration amongst these organizations and leverage collective efforts for the betterment of animals. PACC911 accomplishes this by offering several essential resources, including extensive outdoor adoption events, continuous fundraising initiatives, educational outreach programs, and support through medical care funds. These resources alleviate the demanding tasks involved in animal rescue, enabling these organizations to focus on their primary objective: rescuing and finding new homes for distressed pets.
“While there has been a lot of progress in the state of Arizona, we still have a long road ahead of us to take the state no-kill by 2025,” said Michelle Dosson, Executive Director, Salt Lake City, Utah & Mountain West Region, Best Friends Animal Society. “By working together with local shelters and rescue groups, government officials and the community, and implementing more programs like the ones demonstrated above, I am confident Arizona will continue to make great strides in pet lifesaving.”
Arizona reflected what the data showed nationally: the number of dogs and cats killed in U.S. shelters had a setback, with an increase from 355,000 to around 378,000. This was largely due to shelters experiencing higher intakes and lower adoptions. Targeted programming proven to save more lives, including partnerships between no-kill and not yet no-kill shelters, as well as shelters and rescue groups, Best Friends staff embeds, cat and big-dog-focused initiatives, and advocacy work can help fix the problem.
Individuals can help save lives by choosing to adopt from a shelter or rescue group instead of purchasing from a breeder or store, spay or neuter their pets, foster kittens or an adult dog, volunteer, donate, and advocate for proven lifesaving programming for pets.
About the data
For the past seven years, Best Friends has spearheaded a one-of-a-kind extensive data collection process that involves coordinated outreach to every shelter in America followed by additional research, data analysis, and technology development. The dataset is the most comprehensive on U.S. sheltered animals, and is based on data collected directly from shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites, and FOIA requests. From this, 95% of the animal intake in U.S. shelters is known, 5% is estimated. Best Friends has the most recently available annual data for 85% of shelters nationwide.
*A 90 percent save rate is the nationally recognized benchmark to be considered “no-kill,” factoring that approximately 10 percent of pets who enter shelters have medical or behavioral circumstances that warrant humane euthanasia rather than killing for lack of space.
About Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to around 378,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 4,200 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.
