Small grey and black dog smiling

Adopt a pet and save a life

You can save the life of a dog or cat by choosing to adopt. In 2024, 425,000 cats and dogs were killed in this country’s shelters, simply because they didn’t have a safe place to call home.


We know millions of households will add a pet to their family this year. If just 1 in 17 more of those families chose to adopt a pet from a shelter, we could reach no-kill nationwide.

So when you adopt from a Best Friends location, a network partner or one of the many shelters and rescue groups around the country, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re helping to save lives.

Smiling person giving a dog an ice cream cone at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Bentonville Arkansas

Northwest Arkansas: Bring home your new best friend

When you adopt a homeless pet, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re making room in shelters and helping to save lives.
Smiling person sitting in front of Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Salt Lake City with a dog

Salt Lake City: Bring home your new best friend

When you adopt a homeless pet, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re making room in shelters and helping to save lives.
Smiling person outside with a dog in Houston, Texas
Photo courtesy of Erica Danger

Houston: Bring home your new best friend

When you adopt a homeless pet, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re making room in shelters and helping to save lives.
Smiling person holding a dog outside of the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Los Angeles

Los Angeles: Bring home your new best friend

When you adopt a homeless pet, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re making room in shelters and helping to save lives.
Smiling person sitting in a park in New York City with a dog

New York City: Bring home your new best friend

When you adopt a homeless pet, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re making room in shelters and helping to save lives.
Superman cat and dog
Be a hero for homeless pets
To celebrate SUPERMAN in theaters July 11, Warner Bros. Discovery is covering all pet adoption fees 7/1 to 7/10 at Best Friends lifesaving centers across the country and PAWS Atlanta.
Best Friends Animal Society logo mark

Adopt a pet from Best Friends

In addition to running our animal sanctuary in Kanab and partnering with thousands of shelters and rescue groups, Best Friends operates its own lifesaving centers around the country.

Adopt a pet from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

On any given day, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, located in Kanab, Utah, is home to up to 1,600 animals, including dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits, pigs and others. Many of the animals arrive needing a little extra care and healing before they’re ready to join a family of their own.

When you adopt a furry (or feathered) friend from the Sanctuary, you’re not only changing that pet’s life, you’re helping to Save Them All.

 

Find a Pet Dog Tag GraphicSearch for a Sanctuary animal

Not sure which animal or what kind might be the perfect fit for you? Please fill out an interest form for a dog or cat and we’ll point you in the right direction.

 

 

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All the benefits of adopting a pet from Best Friends

When you adopt an animal from Best Friends, sharing your life with an amazing new companion is just the beginning. As a new adopter, you become part of an extraordinary community of people devoted to their own pets — and to saving the lives of others. Indeed, you become part of the Best Friends family. 

We’re with you every step of the way to provide guidance and answer questions as your pet adjusts to being in a new home. 
 

Dog Cat

More places to find your bff

Best Friends is partnering with these communities throughout the country to help save their homeless pets, and you can be a part of that lifesaving when you raise your hand to adopt.

Help your local animal shelter or rescue group 

At Best Friends, our goal is to get more dogs and cats out of shelters and into homes and make every shelter in America no-kill. Each and every one of these shelters needs caring people like you to adopt, foster, donate, volunteer, and advocate to help save the lives of pets in your community. 

Find an animal shelter or rescue group near you today:
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Saint Peters, MO

Our mission is to promote the health, safety, and welfare of pets and people in St. Charles County through effective education, enthusiastic adoption, and responsible enforcement programs.

Plainview, TX
The goal for this department is to serve Plainview residents by providing care, management, and resolution to situations dealing with domestic animals and wildlife. Priorities are as follows: Education on ordinances and state laws, Manage the ordinance to gain compliance, Promote community involvement, Strive to gain control of overpopulation of animals, Increase live release rates through reclaims and adoptions, and Maintain a positive image within the community. Read moreRead less
New Kensington, PA

The mission of our no-kill shelter is to find safe, loving homes for abused, abandoned and
homeless animals in the A-K Valley and to educate the public about responsible pet ownership.

Blytheville, AR

To provide a safe, nurturing environment for the stray and unwanted dogs and cats in the Blytheville, Mississippi County area until a home or rescue can be found. To educate the public on the importance of spaying/neutering family pets and providing assistance with the BLYHS spay/neuter program.

Vineland, NJ

Preventing animal cruelty, providing refuge for homeless animals, promoting pet adoptions, in southern New Jersey.

Terre Haute, IN
The Terre Haute Humane Society is dedicated to the promotion of animal welfare and the relief of suffering through the provision of temporary shelter, community education and outreach, quality of life-based treatment as well as adoption, spay and neuter services.We are a non-profit 501(c)(3)organization, which means that your continued donations keep us operating. Read moreRead less
Stephenville, TX
ECHS is an independently owned 501c-3 non-profit. The mission of the Erath County Humane Society is to care for unwanted and lost animals, reunite lost animals with their owners, and find homes for adoptable pets. We work closely with our community to decrease pet overpopulation and to provide a safe place for animals as they await their permanent homes. Read moreRead less
Spearman, TX

We try to keep our community safe while finding homes for the strays. Cats that are taken in are re-homed to farmers. Unfortunately, we are a kill-shelter, so we try to work hard while keeping in mind our time limit.

Ponderay, ID
Better Together Animal Alliance formerly Panhandle Animal Shelter, is dedicated to serving the animals of North Idaho. Our programs are focused on keeping families together and though sheltering is still part of our services we want sheltering to be a small part of what we do because our work keeps families together. Read moreRead less
Mobile, AL
The City of Mobile Animal Services mission is to balance the health, safety, and welfare needs of the people and animals in our city. We will educate the public about responsible companion animal ownership, investigate animal cruelty cases, provide compassion and humane care for unwanted, stray, abused and abandoned animals, administer dog licenses, give adoptable animals a second chance at a forever home, and humanely euthanize animals when necessary and appropriate. Read moreRead less
Harker Heights, TX

In order to protect the public health and to effectively control, regulate, and provide for animals within the city.

Baltimore, MD

No description available

Sioux Falls, SD
Our Mission is to be a Safe Haven and Human Voice for All animals in need. The Sioux Falls Area Humane Society is an open admission shelter that provides a safe haven for over 8000 animals a year. We house all animal control animals for the City of Sioux Falls, and provide animal control for the 5 surrounding counties. SFAHS has a vision to be known for quality of animal care, a high level of customer service and the ability to guide every animal to their forever home. Read moreRead less
Erie, PA
The Erie Humane Society is an independent, registered 501-c3 nonprofit, local animal shelter, operating under no-kill standards. We help orphaned, injured, and abused pets by focusing our efforts on rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming; keeping them safe, providing shelter, care and nutrition, and helping them lead happy, healthy lives. Read moreRead less
Harvey, LA

The Jefferson ProtectionAnimal Welfare Services mission is to improve the community through the practice of compassion by saving and protecting animals, providing care and treatment, through education, advocate for their welfare and to enhance the human-animal bond.

Florence, IN

No description available

Ponca City, OK

Connecting animals in need with people who care.

Roxboro, NC
Person County Animal Services promotes and protects the welfare of our citizens and animals by promoting responsible pet ownership, providing services, care and public safety and preventing the spread of animal borne diseases. We promote the adoption of healthy, non-aggressive animals to the public and provide temporary shelter for stray, unwanted or homeless animals in our community. Read moreRead less
Alturas, CA

The mission of HPHS is to end animal homelessness and neglect by increasing adoptions of unwanted dogs and cats in Modoc County and sponsoring a viable spay and neuter program. We sterilize free roaming cats and dogs and assist low income owners to sterilize their animals.

Independence, KS

A.W.O.L (Animals With Our Love) is a volunteer organization existing to build a community of caring by helping pets & educating people. Our main objective is preventing cruelty & neglect to animals, and providing shelter to lost & unwanted animals.

Santa Rosa, CA
Compassion without Borders brings brighter futures to animals in need on both sides of the border. We focus our efforts where the need is the greatest, but where animals are the very least likely to be helped due to financial, geographic, and cultural barriers.Our programs include a dog rescue program from Mexico and the Central Valley, along with free veterinary wellness and spay/neuter clinics in underserved communities on both sides of the border. We also have a humane euthanasia program in Mexico, where we are actively working to stop electrocution, a common method of killing unwanted animals south of the border. Read moreRead less
Smiling person holding a small dog in their arms while sitting outside

Not sure you're ready to adopt a pet? Try fostering.

Fostering a homeless pet is a short-term commitment with long-term impact. By opening your home to a dog or cat for even a few days, you can save lives.  

Happily ever afters

Feel all the feels with these stories of hope and healing.
Best Friends Animal Society logo mark

About Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends is working to end the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters in part by getting more pets out of shelters and into loving homes.

We’ve come a long way since the first known city reached no-kill in 1994, and now we’re closer than ever to making the entire country no-kill. Today, roughly 2,500 shelters are no-kill throughout the U.S. — and 700 more are just 100 pets or fewer away from reaching that milestone.

Best Friends is committed to working with passionate people like you to save homeless pets through adoption, volunteering, fostering, and advocacy. In addition to our lifesaving centers around the U.S, we also founded and run the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals.

Working together, we can save homeless pets in our communities and secure a better future for our best friends. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill.