The power of proof: Turning ‘impossible’ into millions of lives saved
Last week, we held our Benefit to Save Them All, an event that brings together passionate and dedicated animal lovers both in New York and from across the country. When I walked into that room, I felt overwhelming gratitude that we get to be part of something so full of heart. That night, we celebrated how far we’ve come for homeless pets and looked ahead at the lifesaving work we’ll continue to achieve together for our best friends.
This year was extra special, too, because we recognized a man who is a pioneer, a mentor, the father of the no-kill movement, and my friend: Rich Avanzino.
To me, Rich embodies radical possibility — the truth that what seems impossible often just hasn’t been done yet. For centuries, people believed humans would never take to the sky until the Wright brothers did it. Science maintained that the human body was incapable of running one mile in under four minutes until Roger Bannister did just that in 1954, and suddenly, others followed. What was once unthinkable became a standard.
That is the power of proof: One person does the impossible, and the world shifts.
Not killing dogs and cats to make space in shelters was something also once considered impossible until someone defied that logic. That person is Rich Avanzino — the Roger Bannister of the no-kill movement. He questioned the system and then rewrote it. He reminded us that the public isn’t the problem to be managed but the solution to be embraced. He stood up to 150 years of inertia and said, “We can do better.” And then, he proved it.
Countless lives have been saved thanks to Rich’s longstanding commitment to the dogs and cats we all love. Lives like Sido, the little sheltie mix whose person left instruction in her will for Sido to be put down after her death. Rich refused to comply with this unnecessary killing of a healthy dog and took the case to court — a story that went viral before virality was a thing, with people from all across the country supporting his decision to save Sido. That’s the kind of man Rich is.
Over 40 years ago, it took people like Rich, as well as the founders of Best Friends, to ask a simple but revolutionary question: Why are we killing our best friends?
The answer was just as simple: We shouldn’t be.
When Best Friends was founded in 1984, an estimated 17 million cats and dogs were killed in U.S. shelters every single year. It was a massive problem — and one that most of the established groups of the time weren’t focused on solving. The founders of Best Friends and Rich Avanzino believed in their “radical” idea: that saving the lives of pets in shelters didn’t have to be the exception but the rule. In other words, they believed in no-kill.
That idea was met by most people at the time with outright dismissal. “No-kill isn’t possible,” they said. But Best Friends’ founders and their few but mighty allies like Rich Avanzino didn’t care about what the old guard thought was possible. They cared about saving dogs and cats in shelters, and they knew a simple truth: History is littered with impossibilities until someone dares to believe otherwise.
Changing a system that took millions of lives demands patience, audacity, and some bold goals along the way. In 2016, when more than 1 million pets were still being killed annually, Best Friends did what we’ve always done — we set a bold goal to make the entire country no-kill in 2025.
That bold goal sparked the exponential change we’ve seen since — the heightened commitment to no-kill all across America, the increased awareness of the general public, and, most importantly, the millions of dogs and cats saved since.
Bold goals accelerate progress, and the progress we’ve made together is astounding:
- Two out of every three shelters are no-kill.
- The governors of 22 states have publicly proclaimed their commitment to saving the animals in their states’ shelters.
- Best Friends is working in partnership with more than 5,500 shelters and rescue groups across the country, with boots on the ground in every single state.
- Millions more animals in shelters have been saved.
None of this progress would exist without the shelter workers and volunteers who give their time to a cause they know our pets deserve. The center of gravity in this field has shifted, permanently, from the outdated “catch-and-kill” model to a compassionate, community-based model of lifesaving. And that is thanks to all of you.
Forty years ago, a few people dared to ask a question that challenged the status quo: Why are we killing our best friends? That question redefined what people thought was possible. It lit a fire that’s still burning in our hearts, in our decision-making, in shelters all across the country. It’s what brings us together and keeps us moving forward.
Every time someone stands up and refuses to accept what’s believed to be “possible,” we get closer. Every time someone acts on compassion over convenience, we move forward. And every time someone says yes to this mission, we prove that what once seemed impossible is not only possible — it’s already happening. Let’s finish what we started.
-Julie
