Data and Statistics Stories

Dog gets some love at the Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia

No-kill animal shelters: The new normal in America

From a large shelter in Las Vegas to a smaller one in rural Georgia, U.S. animal s...
Steady progress saves more lives
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A gray kitten waves from its bowl

No-kill shelters are now the norm

There’s a tipping point in all great things. It’s the moment the scales shift thei...
The no-kill movement is real - and working.
Julie Castle Blog
Multiple people doing medical work on a small brown dog

New animal shelter data reveals nationwide progress

Reporting from animal shelters across the country shows thousands more dogs and ca...
Saving lives in Wisconsin and Nebraska
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Two kittens snuggled sleeping together on a red bed

More shelter pets adopted in 2024, but the fight isn’t over

Data reveals gains in adoption and fewer shelter animals killed, yet shelters are ...
Positive trends but there’s more work to be done
Julie Castle Blog
Three happy people posing with a calico cat and a Best Friends no-kill 2023 shelter trophy

New data shows encouraging trend for pets in shelters

Monthly data from nearly 800 animal shelters from across the U.S. shows the first ...
Positive momentum for shelter lifesaving
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Shepherd-type dog in a home setting

3.4% fewer animals were killed in shelters so far in 2024

Best Friends’ latest data shows a turning point for shelters across the country.
Let’s celebrate the positive momentum in lifesaving
Julie Castle Blog
Person wearing rubber gloves and holding an orange and white kitten next to a row of kennels in a shelter

Saving lives with machine learning and artificial intelligence

Let’s talk data from 2023.
Updated shelter data from last year
Julie Castle Blog
Smiling person petting a cat in a clean kennel

Animal shelters are partnering with a purpose

The Best Friends Network equips organizations with the tools to save lives.
Collaborative efforts to save lives
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Two brown puppies wearing shirts sitting on a chair

Supporting California animal shelters to reach no-kill

Best Friends’ shelter collaborative program leverages one shelter’s no-kill status...
Read about their new lifesaving efforts
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Black and tan dog standing on a gray cushion

Best Friends’ 2022 dataset points to no-kill progress

Let’s make every shelter and every community no-kill by 2025
See the big picture
Julie Castle Blog
Three puppies on a Kuranda-type bed

A setback in lifesaving and what it means

The number of cats and dogs killed in U.S. shelters increased in 2021.
See why
Julie Castle Blog