Strength — and transparency — in numbers | Best Friends Animal Society

Knowing where we stand not only helps determine the best way to move forward, but it also helps track the progress we’re making together. Data plays an essential role to track this progress and ultimately to help us end the killing of adoptable cats and dogs simply because they don’t have homes.

We believe that being open and transparent about how we obtain information is equally important.

We call the goal of ending the killing in shelters “no-kill,” and one key component of reaching no-kill is Best Friends Animal Society’s nationwide data collection process.

This involves knowing how many shelters there are in America, reaching out to every shelter, and recording the number of animals a shelter takes in each year and the number of pets saved.

It’s this data that helps us see where pets need us the most and informs us as to where we should focus our attention and lifesaving efforts. See how your community is doing saving the lives of pets.

How to understand our data

Best Friends strives to be transparent about the information we share.

No-kill, as a philosophical principle, means saving every dog and cat who can be saved. But it’s helpful to have a way to clearly measure lifesaving progress as we move forward together, and that’s where the 90% benchmark comes in.

That’s why we track save rate — because it’s a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress.

Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that affect their quality of life and prevent them from being adopted is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering the organizations striving to save them.

That’s why we designate organizations that meet the 90% save-rate benchmark as no-kill.

We also recognize that certain organizations or efforts might target the easiest and/or hardest animals to save, and therefore save rates might vary as a result. For many organizations, a true no-kill save rate may be closer to 95% (or higher).

For some — particularly those offering care and services such as neonatal kitten programs, homeless senior pet hospice care, or other programs targeting the animals who are harder to save — the no-kill benchmark may be below 90%.

For this reason, Best Friends offers a benchmark exemption to organizations that can demonstrate that they meet the philosophical definition of no-kill despite a save rate below 90%.

The goal is for every animal welfare organization to make a clear commitment to lifesaving and transparency while working to achieve and sustain no-kill in philosophy and practice, rather than only working to obtain a no-kill designation. Best Friends makes that commitment with every animal we take into our care. We will save every animal who can be saved.

Where our data comes from

We collect data from six hubs around the country where we’re taking animals into our direct care: New York City; Houston; Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah; Los Angeles; Northwest Arkansas; and Salt Lake City.

Best Friends collects data in real time using Shelterluv, an online shelter management system. After it’s collected, the data is then verified by our national operations support team and our business intelligence team.

This information is used to track the effectiveness of our direct lifesaving efforts, such as foster programs and transport of Best Friends’ animals, and it helps us plan future strategies.

Keep in mind that direct animal intake data seen in this section is only a part of our lifesaving work around the country. We’ve also engaged with thousands of shelters and rescue partners to help them save more lives in their own shelters and communities.

Best Friends East Coast transport

Best Friends moves homeless pets who are at risk in shelters to our New York City lifesaving center and partner locations in the Northeast, creating more shelter space to save animals most in need.

The idea took flight in 2020, when our regional programs in Atlanta and New York realized the best way to save more pets at risk in the East Coast region was to merge their efforts.

Since then, we’ve facilitated transport programs with shelters throughout the East Coast corridor in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Atlanta. Transport programs, such as the Wheels of Hope program for the Animal Care Centers of New York City, have moved more than 3,900 animals.

Our East Coast transport teams are working hard for cats, too, in particular by helping animal shelters with the highest need for kitten lifesaving. Kittens are among shelters’ most vulnerable occupants. Due to their fragility, those under 8 weeks old sometimes don't survive despite the best of care.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Best Friends in Houston

Best Friends works with local shelters and rescue groups in Houston and the surrounding area to help more pets find homes and keep more pets at home with their families.

Best Friends works collaboratively with local shelters and animal welfare groups across Greater Houston and surrounding regions, helping save the lives of pets. The Best Friends hub in Houston is located in the Acres Homes area within the city of Houston. Our local team hosts adoption events throughout the city, supports animal welfare groups with veterinary services, and provides lifesaving programs through direct care.. Our Houston team hosts shelter “takeovers” and foster rallies, matching community members with local shelters in their area to help more pets in need. The team is also supported by a team of dedicated foster homes that provide temporary housing for our dogs and cats.

The Houston program may have started through its effort during Hurricane Harvey running the temporary shelter of over 800 pets, working with Harris County Pets in 2017, but now the team saves and impacts countless pets' lives through adoption, transport, and medical support to many regional partners.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab

The Sanctuary is a safe haven for up to 1,600 animals on any given day, offering every animal the utmost care and the best chance to thrive.

Because of this unique feature of the Sanctuary’s work, save rates can dip below the no-kill threshold of 90%. This is largely due to certain animals receiving the special care they need and living out the remainder of their lives and eventually dying with us at the Sanctuary.

Further challenging our save rates is a large resident population of animals that includes far more than just dogs and cats — namely horses, pigs, goats, bunnies, birds, and exotics such as lizards and turtles — in addition to the several thousand new arrivals we welcome in any given year.

We only euthanize an animal as a true act of mercy, such as when there is no chance of the animal regaining a humane quality of life or in rare cases of dogs suffering irremediable aggression.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Best Friends in Los Angeles

Best Friends’ pet adoption center in Los Angeles saves thousands of lives each year — including newborn kittens, some of the most at-risk pets in L.A. shelters.

Our location in West L.A., our largest in terms of number of animals entering, features adoptable dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens from regional shelters and rescue partner organizations.

The city’s greatest needs are foster homes for kittens, spay and neuter resources, affordable pet-inclusive housing, and access to veterinary care for low-income families with pets.

Save rates for cats tend to be lower due to the large number of fragile kitten admissions.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Best Friends in Northwest Arkansas

The future of animal sheltering is here at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Northwest Arkansas.

The center is the first of its kind — paving the way for a kinder way of helping animals in need of temporary housing. The center breaks the mold of the traditional, fundamentally broken system of animal sheltering and is a community-centric resource center for pets and the people who love them.

At the center we are innovating alternative solutions that not only provide a better quality of life for pets in need of temporary housing but also exponentially increase the number of pets who can be saved with the same resources.

Since our grand opening in March 2023, we’ve grown to be the second largest intake shelter in the state of Arkansas, all without traditional kennels and cages. We take in animals directly from shelters within Arkansas that desire and are striving to become no-kill.

The center is a place for the community to gather, connect, and come together to save the lives of dogs and cats in Northwest Arkansas and beyond.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Best Friends in Utah

In Salt Lake City, Best Friends runs a lifesaving center, spay/neuter clinic, community cat program, and neonate kitten foster care program serving the entire state of Utah.

Pets from our partner shelters are matched with homes through the lifesaving center while several hundred orphaned kittens are helped through our foster kitten care program each year, and our community cat programs are helping to save more lives in Utah.

Our Salt Lake City program is our second largest in terms of volume. Save rates for dogs are consistently close to 100%. Save rates for cats are lower due to the large number of fragile kitten admissions.

The save rate reflects the percentage of animals received and saved in a particular period of time, while also factoring in the loss of those animals who may have died after previous months or years of care.

Want to see how your community is doing?

Now that you’ve seen our data for Best Friends locations, we invite you to check out how shelters are doing around the country. 

Best Friends’ data is the most comprehensive, accurate information about dogs and cats in U.S. shelters.

See How Your Community Is Doing

See the state of animal welfare today »

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.  

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 a bright future for every dog and cat in America.  

Best Friends operates the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and is committed to saving the lives of homeless pets by working with shelters and passionate people like you. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025. Together, we will Save Them All.  