Celebrating a year of policy wins for pets

When a dog or cat ends up in a shelter and doesn’t make it out alive, the reason isn’t always a shortage of space, staff, or adopters. Sometimes it’s a law.

“So many times, the reason that animals don’t make it out of shelters is because there are barriers to lifesaving that have been imposed either by state or local regulation, state or local laws, or local shelter policies,” says Eric Swafford, Best Friends legislation and campaign strategy director. “And these barriers have to be removed.”

More communities than ever before are embracing no-kill and the programs that make it possible. But in many cases, there’s a law, policy, or ordinance that delays or makes illegal a key service that pets and their families need.

That’s where every individual has great power to make a difference. In the past year, when the Best Friends advocacy team put out the call for people to contact their local lawmakers, they responded every time.

It’s always a team effort to save a dog or cat. When the advocacy team faces a law that puts pets at risk, they can call on the most powerful people to help. Those powerful people? Voters.

Eric, a former state legislator, says, “When your phone starts ringing from folks at home, when your email starts filling up with messages from your folks at home, you pay attention.”

This year, the advocacy team and thousands of people who took the time to contact their lawmakers made a world of difference for pets across the country.

Here are the highlights, as shared by the Best Friends advocacy team.

In the past year, our advocates have sent more than 33,714 letters to elected officials through the Best Friends platform. Countless more were sent organically that we simply couldn’t track in key areas (L.A. and Utah), and advocates signed 20,974 petitions on behalf of homeless dogs and cats.

We worked to pass bills increasing access to veterinary care in eight states: Colorado, Georgia, California, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Texas.

We also collaborated with fellow stakeholders to end inhumane puppy mills by supporting humane pet store laws in four states — Delaware, Colorado, Oklahoma, and California. There were also local humane pet store ordinances adopted in 18 cities.

Best Friends and local advocates led the way on state bills to improve operations and save more dogs and cats in Utah and Colorado shelters.

At the national level, Best Friends championed two efforts with the U.S. Conference of Mayors — the official, nonpartisan organization representing more than 1,400 mayors from cities of 30,000 or more residents, which helps shape national urban policy and strengthen federal-city relations. We passed a resolution supporting no-kill programs and encouraging cities to embrace them, and we highlighted the partnership between Best Friends and Gillette, Wyoming — which helped Gillette achieve no-kill — as a model business practice. This effort will yield significant local lifesaving policy change and influence for years to come.

Locally, we repealed the long-standing pit bull ban in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and supported four other communities in ending breed-specific laws.

Best Friends led efforts to pass laws embracing trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) as the humane approach to community cat management in five communities, including North Little Rock, Arkansas. In September, North Little Rock’s city attorney joined Best Friends legislative attorneys at the International Municipal Lawyers Association’s annual meeting to speak about how and why to pass a community cat ordinance. She was joined on our moderated panel by Karen White, a municipal lawyer who has repealed numerous breed bans and restrictions across Louisiana.

In Alaska, our cat management petition has garnered more than 1,000 signatures so far.

In Virginia, 2,000 people signed the petition in response to the Danville Area Humane Society’s handling of a senior dog’s preventable death.

In Los Angeles, advocates sent over 2,100 messages in favor of the proposal for assistance to Los Angeles Animal Services.

And in Utah, people sent more than 1,300 letters and made nearly 200 phone calls to elected officials in favor of SB 201, which requires shelters to pursue all reasonable options, including adoption, foster, and rescue group transfers, before killing a dog or cat.

Every one of these wins started with people who cared enough to speak up. One letter, petition, and phone call at a time, they’re helping to change the laws that stand between pets and a second chance and bringing the whole country closer to no-kill.

When the next call to action comes, add your voice: action.bestfriends.org.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.