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Bring love home with the Big 12 Conference

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Teaming up with the Big 12

Best Friends is teaming up with the Big 12 Conference for a historic partnership.

For the first time, Best Friends Animal Society is partnering with the Big 12 Conference, marking the first collaboration between the Big 12 and a nonprofit animal welfare organization.

From May 7–10, during the Big 12 Softball Championship at Oklahoma City's OGE Field at Devon Park, the home of the Women’s College World Series, Best Friends will have a booth on the concourse. Attendees can enter to win an Outdoorsy Bundle, meet adoptable pets from the Oklahoma Humane Society, and participate in scheduled cuddle lounges.

This partnership will help shelter pets slide into homes and introduce thousands of softball fans to Best Friends’ lifesaving mission.

Adopt From Best Friends

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.



Adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue group near you

The Best Friends Network is made up of thousands of public and private shelters, rescue groups, spay/neuter organizations, and other animal welfare groups, all working to save the lives of dogs and cats in communities like yours across the country.

Each and every one of our network partners needs caring people like you to adopt, foster, donate, volunteer, and advocate to help save the lives of pets where you live.

Find a network partner near you today:
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Let's be friends!

Show us how you celebrated with the Big 12, and don’t forget to tag us:

@bestfriendsanimalsociety

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Happily-ever-afters

Looking for a little inspiration? Check out these animals and their stories of hope, love, and resilience.

Rio and Mike the dogs outside on some steps

A road trip detour that changed a dog’s life

A cross-country trip and spontaneous visit to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary led to a life-changing moment for a very good dog named Rio.
Now Rio has blossomed
Feature
Brown tabby cat whose head is looking out of a round hole in a green box

Happy tales of pets’ lives after adoption

Our favorite kind of news? Updates from adopters whose new pets have become the heart of their homes.
Pets living their best lives with the people who love them
Best Friends Magazine
Goldilocks the cat lying on a cat scratcher

Tales of second chances for homeless pets

Across the country, Best Friends is finding pets homes full of love, fun, and sometimes even their own wardrobe.
The stories of some special dogs and cats
Best Friends Magazine

More ways to bring magic home

You create a happier, healthier, more compassionate community for both people and pets when you foster, volunteer, and advocate for homeless dogs and cats.

Foster parent hugging large brown and white dog on patio

Foster a pet

Fostering a 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. 
The fun of fostering a pet
Man gathering pet supplies at pet pantry

Volunteer to save pets

Volunteers — passionate, caring people like you — are the heartbeat of our organization. Whatever your interests and wherever you live, there’s a way you can help.
Becoming a lifesaving volunteer
Tabby cat sitting on blanket by window

Make your community no-kill in 2025

In 2024, 425,000 loving dogs and cats were killed in shelters around the country just because they didn’t have safe places to call home.
Is your community no-kill?
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About Best Friends 

Here at Best Friends, we believe that every dog and cat deserves the love, safety, and comfort of a home. 

Whether their home is a big house with a fenced yard or a cozy apartment — or it’s a community cat’s safe outdoor space — every pet deserves to have a safe place to call home. That’s why we’re working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.  

Just a few short years ago, cats and dogs were killed in staggering numbers in this country simply because shelters didn't have the community support or the resources to save their lives. That number is now less than half a million per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure that every dog and cat in America finds a safe place to call home. 

Best Friends also runs the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary and works collaboratively with a network of more than 5,000 animal welfare and shelter partners, plus community members around the country, to save pets’ lives.

Together, let’s bring them home and Save Them All.