But it doesn't have to be that way. An estimated 17 million people will add a new pet to their families this year. If more of them would choose to adopt a pet, instead of buying one, we could reduce the number of animals killed in shelters significantly.

Thanks to so many rescue proponents around the country, both individuals and organizations, we believe that adoption is fast becoming the hip way to acquire a pet, and that it's just a matter of time before buying a pet feels as strange for most people as throwing a recyclable plastic bottle in the trash.

But just because we're on a good trajectory doesn't mean we can let up. So encouraging adoption is a common thread that runs through nearly all the work we do.
 

Here are just a few of the things Best Friends is doing to make adopting a pet convenient and desirable:

• Hosting super adoption events in cities across the country. Each event finds homes for hundreds of animals in just one weekend.
   
• Running adoption centers in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, New York, and Northwest Arkansas, where all animals up for adoption come from local shelters.
   
• Creating marketing promotions for use by our Best Friends Network partners (one popular promotion is Back in Black, designed to encourage people to adopt black animals, often overlooked in shelters).
   
• Hosting a nationwide database of adoptable pets right on this website. Search for adoptable pets here.

Adopt to Save Them All.