No-Kill 2025 Stories

Vera the dog next to a smiling person who has both hands affectionately holding her

Faces of No-Kill: Saving a dog with a sensitive soul

Vera went from a busy shelter to a charmed life in her new home.
Now she's a cherished member of the family
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Family holding a puppy they adopted along with some Best Friends signs

Reaching Hispanic/Latino communities to save more pets

Q&A with Mia Navedo-Williams on connecting Spanish-speaking communities with information about dogs and cats in shelters and how they can save pets’ lives
Hear what's being done to help save lives
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Monster the senior pug, smiling with tongue out

Embracing change saves more pets at Arizona shelter

Best Friends is helping city officials in Bullhead City transform the culture of its animal shelter to better serve the community and increase lifesaving.
Making the shelter more customer friendly
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Staff from San Angelo Animal Services standing in front of empty kennels

Texas animal shelter gets creative to keep pets at home

San Angelo Animal Services and Best Friends collaborate on lifesaving programs to reduce the number of pets entering the shelter.
Offering good programs and a good attitude
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Two people sitting on a blue couch petting a large white dog

Grant helps save more dogs in Chicago shelters

One Tail at a Time puts Rachael Ray Save Them All Grant to good use to support dogs from Chicago animal shelter.
They're thinking outside of the box
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Two people drying a small puppy with a towel

Amazing progress at Brownsville animal shelter

With guidance from Best Friends, a Texas shelter dramatically increased the number of pets saved in six months, despite a midstream distemper outbreak.
Read how things have improved
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Group of Best Friends co-founders from an All Staff meeting

The evolution of Best Friends Animal Society

What the founders are most proud of is the decision to pass the baton.
From co-founder Francis Battista
Best Friends Magazine
German shepherd type dog on a leash with a person behind him

SPCA Tampa Bay says yes to puppy mills in new partnership

Promoting puppy mills under the guise of adoption is unconscionable.
New pilot partnership at Florida shelter a huge betrayal
Julie Castle Blog
Atkins the white dog in front of a group of people when moving into the Shipley Dog Lodges

Announcing the Shipley Dog Lodges

A nod to the future through the experiences of the past
Celebrating a place designed to celebrate dogs with behavior challenges
Julie Castle Blog
Mojo the dog in the lap of one of his adopters

How a Tennessee animal shelter is saving more pets

Rhea County Animal Shelter is making strides toward no-kill as part of Best Friends’ national shelter embed program.
See how small changes are making a big affect
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Family adopting Jewel the dog in front of a window

Easier adoption process saves more dogs and cats

A chance meeting with a Best Friends staff member caused an Iowa organization to change the way it viewed adoptions and save more animals.
Read how they embrace change
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Turtle the kitten wearing her protective helmet

Faces of No-Kill: Kitten with serious head wound gets custom helmet

Shelter collaboration, community support, and TLC help Turtle the kitten survive and thrive.
Joint effort helps save special kitten
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Person running the Grand to Grand Ultra

Runners accept ‘ultra’ challenge to save dogs and cats

To this trio of animal lovers, raising funds for Best Friends by running the Grand to Grand Ultra will be just as important as finishing the race.
Support their efforts
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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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Smiling person looking at a cat they're holding in animal shelter setting

Q&A: Best Friends national shelter embed program

Michelle Logan answers questions about a one-of-a-kind program that places Best Friends staff in animal shelters to support them reaching no-kill.
See how it supports shelter staff and animals
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