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Let's end the killing in every shelter and every community in 2025
In 2023, 415,000 dogs and cats were killed in our nation’s shelters just because they didn’t have safe places to call home. But people like you are changing that.
Animal shelters, local stakeholders, lifesaving groups, and individual community members are working together to save at-risk pets right where they live. You can help. Find out how your community is doing and what you can do to save homeless pets where you live.
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No-kill: The goal of ending killing in shelters
No-kill is a benchmark Best Friends has established to help guide where we focus our efforts to save the lives of the pets most at risk in shelters.
Cats and dogs
entered shelters
Cats and dogs
were saved ⓘOf the 4.76 million cats and dogs entering shelters in 2023, 3.97 million were saved.
Total number of shelters
in the U.S. ⓘFor a definition of “shelter,” please see https://bestfriends.org/map-methodology
The path to achieving no-kill nationwide in 2025
Join your local grassroots action team
Find a local 2025 Action Team near you and learn how you can help create big change for the pets and people in your community today.
Our priorities: A road map to reaching no-kill
At Best Friends, we believe in second chances for our most faithful companions. To give them those second chances they deserve, we're using our expertise and passion to take the entire country to no-kill in 2025.
About Best Friends
Best Friends Animal Society is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.
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