The unsung heroes who keep animal shelters running
Every day, in nearly every community across the country, there is a collection of folks who show up to do some of the hardest and most important work there is: caring for pets who have nowhere else to go. They’re animal shelter workers — the ones cleaning kennels at sunrise, bottle-feeding kittens during lunch breaks, building confidence in frightened dogs, and celebrating every adoption as if it were their own. Their compassion keeps the entire animal welfare system running.
This week is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, a time to recognize and thank the staff and volunteers tirelessly caring for animals in shelters. They are the front line.
At Best Friends, our mission is simple but bold: to bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets. We do this by working to end the killing in America’s animal shelters through building community programs and partnerships all across the nation, and that work is built on deep respect for the people working inside shelters.
No-kill, at its heart, means saving every healthy and treatable dog and cat. And it can’t happen in a vacuum. It’s achieved together with shelters, not apart from them, and built on collaboration, compassion, and appreciation for the people doing this work every day. No-kill also asks us all to understand that each community faces unique challenges and that progress happens when we support one another.
And you know what’s really exciting? Today, 2 out of 3 U.S. shelters are no-kill, and hundreds more are within reach of that goal.
The shelters that are not yet no-kill are the places where the most courageous work in animal welfare happens every day. Whether it’s implementing a community cat program for the very first time or changing their approach to helping stray dogs, many of these shelters are bravely innovating their practices to save more lives.
Spend a day at a shelter and you’ll see that courage up close. You’ll see it in people like Alyson Harms and her team at the Bullhead City Animal Shelter in Arizona, who turned a small, overcrowded shelter into a no-kill facility. They built stronger partnerships with local rescue groups, started programs for kittens and community cats, and reshaped their entire approach to saving lives.
At a shelter, you’ll also meet the person who starts their morning walking dog after dog after dog, the animal services officer who knocks on every door in the neighborhood to reunite a lost pet with their family, and the volunteer who shows up every weekend to tackle the piles of laundry. You’ll see dedication that doesn’t waver and compassion that doesn’t run out when the day gets long or the kennels get full. And who knows? Maybe soon enough, you’ll be the person inspiring someone else to get involved.
Animal shelter workers are the people who make no-kill possible. They are the reason millions of animals have a second chance. And they deserve to be recognized, not just this week but every week.
So to everyone working and volunteering in shelters across the country: thank you. You are the backbone of lifesaving, the foundation of this movement, and the reason millions of animals have gone from homeless to home. The path to no-kill runs through your doors, and because of you, those doors keep opening wider every day. You are my heroes.
If you want to join the growing community of people saying yes to lifesaving — by volunteering, fostering, donating, or simply learning more about how to support your local shelter — here’s how you can get involved. Every act of kindness helps lighten the load for the people who give so much of themselves every day.
-Julie
