PEOPLE: Rallying supporters to drive lifesaving change

In 2025, Best Friends’ policy experts, advocates, volunteers, partners, and people like you stepped up and spoke out for the animals. From legislative wins and grassroots action to national partnerships and community campaigns, these efforts improved the lives of homeless pets across the country. Scroll down to meet the people behind the progress.

Your support also put thousands of animals in homes and kept them safe. Dedicated volunteers contributed time and skills across shelters, foster care, and transport programs, with several earning national recognition through Daily Point of Light Awards. High-profile partnerships with Walmart, Blue Buffalo, Whisker, the Big 12, Puppy Bowl, Sabrina Carpenter, Uber Eats, and Warner Bros. Discovery brought the no-kill message to millions and drove thousands of adoptions.

And when wildfires swept through Los Angeles, 2,247 displaced animals were relocated to safety, with Best Friends providing veterinary care, rescue operations, and community pet pantries for affected families.

Advocates and policy experts

Advocacy and legislation are central to Best Friends’ work to lead the nation to no-kill, shaping the laws and policies that directly affect the animals we love. Best Friends’ policy experts and grassroots advocates worked together to strengthen protections for dogs and cats nationwide — removing barriers and expanding opportunities for lifesaving.

Policy experts advanced big wins

In 2025, Best Friends’ team of attorneys, research analysts, and policy experts championed lifesaving measures across the country. Key wins included overturning a decades-old pit bull ban in Prince George’s County, Maryland; ending roadside pet sales in Georgia and Florida; and passing Roscoe’s Law in Washington, D.C., which removes housing barriers for families with pets and sets a precedent for other communities.

Grassroots advocacy through the Best Friends Action Team

The Best Friends Action Team was instrumental in passing dozens of laws, exposing puppy mills, and advancing pet inclusive policies nationwide in 2025. This grassroots volunteer network surpassed 200,000 members, fueled by Best Friends’ Bring No-Kill Home summits in New Jersey, Illinois, Utah, California, and Arkansas, plus a virtual summit with record breaking attendance.

After attending the Arkansas summit, volunteer Betsy Robb put her training into action — boosting adoptions and media coverage at Little Rock Animal Village and helping stop a local policy that would have restricted pit bull-type dog adoptions. Betsy was recognized for her leadership with the Excellence in Advocacy Award by a Volunteer Leader at the Women in Government Relations National Conference last summer.

Volunteers and communities

People just like you have long been the heartbeat of the no-kill movement. In 2025, thousands of people across the country offered their time, skills, and compassion — supporting shelters, caring for animals, fostering or transporting pets, and lending a hand wherever it was needed most.

Best Friends volunteers received national recognition

Volunteers are essential to Best Friends’ lifesaving work, contributing at every level of the organization. In 2025, that dedication was recognized nationally when several Best Friends volunteers received Daily Point of Light Awards from Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.

Longtime supporters Brenda and Marty Winnick were honored for contributions ranging from preparing food for animals at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to helping provide much-needed veterinary care to pets on the Navajo Nation. In Kansas City, Bob Potemski received a Daily Point of Light Award for recruiting and leading volunteer teams that support pet transport efforts. Congratulations to Brenda, Marty, and Bob!

Campaigns helped more people help animals

Best Friends’ national Bring Love Home campaign continued in 2025, inspiring people across the country to adopt rather than buy pets. Alongside this national effort, Best Friends created local campaigns that motivated people to support pets in their own communities. In Houston, bilingual ads in the Houston Astros yearbook encouraged people to adopt, foster, or volunteer, while “skip the shelter” ads helped lost dogs get home faster. By reaching audiences where they live, work, and play, Best Friends turned awareness into action.

Strategic partners

From business brands and entertainers to sports teams and media partners, Best Friends’ partners shone a national spotlight on homeless pets and brought the no-kill message to millions in 2025. These partnerships connected people to adoptable pets, boosted awareness, and strengthened the movement at a national scale.

During National Pet Month in May, Best Friends partnered with Walmart as its for-good nonprofit partner, amplifying the pet adoption message in 2,000 stores nationwide. Eleven brands supported the effort, including Blue Buffalo, which sponsored adoptions all month and helped 1,694 dogs and cats from Best Friends and local shelters find homes.

Whisker — the maker of Litter-Robot — helped bust common cat myths by encouraging people to share videos using the hashtag #FelineFolkloreChallenge, donating $1 to Best Friends for every post. The company also sponsored cat adoptions at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and centers throughout June.

As the Big 12 Conference’s first animal welfare nonprofit partner, Best Friends teamed up with the conference all year to help 30 dogs from local shelters score homes. The slam-dunk partnership also introduced thousands of fans to Best Friends’ lifesaving mission.

Beethoven, a puppy from Best Friends in New York, played for Team Ruff in Puppy Bowl XXI and quickly landed a home. Thanks to the Puppy Bowl covering adoption fees from February 5-12, 283 dogs and cats from Best Friends were adopted during Super Bowl week in 2025.

Ahead of Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, dropping in October, Best Friends and Uber Eats celebrated her love of cats with playful pop-up events. Swifties in Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York met adoptable “Uber showcats,” leading to 25 adoptions.

Sabrina Carpenter partnered with Best Friends during her Short n’ Sweet tour, donating over $160,000 from ticket sales and hosting backstage puppy meet and greets. The collaboration included fan engagement at concerts and a pop-up activation in Los Angeles, with more events planned in L.A. and New York City in 2026.

After miraculously surviving a 380-foot fall in Bryce Canyon National Park, Mirage the cat found care and healing at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary before being adopted by one of her rescuers. Mirage’s story captured national media attention, becoming one of the most widely shared animal stories of the year.

Warner Bros. Discovery highlighted homeless pets through Krypto, a canine character in the new Superman movie, and partnered with Best Friends to promote pet adoption. Best Friends CEO Julie Castle attended the Hollywood premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre, helping shine a spotlight on animals in need. After Superman premiered, Google searches for “adopt a dog near me” shot up by an incredible 513%.

Pulling together to provide relief

Across the lifesaving, shelters, and people work you've read about in this report, one moment in 2025 brought all three pillars together in a powerful way. When wildfires swept through Los Angeles and Southern California in early 2025, thousands of pets and families suddenly needed help. Unlike most disasters we've assisted with, the L.A. wildfires put one of our own centers — the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in West L.A. — at risk. Thanks to supporters like you, and the strength of the Best Friends Network, relief came quickly.

Response

Best Friends provided care for pets injured or displaced by the wildfires. Lucky, a cat rescued with all four paws burned and whiskers singed, received intensive treatment at our West L.A. center after first being brought to a local shelter.

Rescue

Working with Los Angeles County and rescue partners, Best Friends helped ensure that no animal was left behind — setting up and monitoring humane traps and wildlife cameras in areas where pets and wildlife had been spotted.

Relief

To support families and pets affected by the fires, Best Friends opened two community pantries in Los Angeles. More than 20 corporate partners and countless supporters kept them stocked with pet food and supplies, including essential items for people like toothpaste and air purifiers.

Relocation

Best Friends helped 2,247 adoptable dogs and cats leave L.A.-area shelters through a mix of direct transports, facilitated transfers, and partner support. This included 523 animals moved by Best Friends to the Sanctuary in Kanab and our centers in Salt Lake City and New York City, as well as 1,724 animals placed with 84 receiving partners, each supported with a Best Friends stipend. While many pets traveled by van, Wings of Rescue, the Philadelphia Eagles, and other partners also flew hundreds of animals to safety.