Riverside County Passes Resolution to Become a No-kill Community

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Best Friends PR Team prteam@bestfriends.org
Sets community standard to save every healthy and treatable companion animal

Riverside County Board of Supervisors passed Resolution No. 2025-133 committing Riverside County to becoming a no-kill community. This effort underlines Riverside’s commitment to ending the unnecessary killing of dogs and cats throughout the community’s shelters.  
 
Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization dedicated to saving the lives of dogs and cats in America's shelters, welcomes this pivotal step in pet lifesaving.  

“Riverside County has the ability to make substantial progress in saving the lives of cats and dogs in shelters, but in order to do so, community support is needed,” said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. “We are urging all Riverside County residents to choose the adoption option because if just 6% more people planning to bring home a new a pet chose to adopt from a shelter rather than purchase from a breeder or pet store, we could make Riverside, the great state of California, and the country, no-kill.” 

Now, with the support of Supervisors Manuel Perez and Yxstian Gutierrez through the recent resolution, key programmatic changes can be positively impacted by local leadership. Having this local backing will create a more direct path for the animal sheltering system to reach no-kill. 
 
Data from Best Friends shows that more than half of California shelters are already no-kill. In 2024, Riverside County Department of Animal Services (RCDAS) saved 73 percent of pets entering the sheltering system – an improvement over last year. Much of the pet lifesaving success can be attributed to the implementation of community cat programming.  
 
Nationally, in 2024, just under five million dogs and cats entered America’s shelters, down 12% compared to 2016 when Best Friends first began reporting out data. To put that in perspective, in 2016, over one million dogs and cats were killed in shelters. Last year that number dropped to 425,000— a 59% decrease, with nearly two out three shelters achieving no-kill. 
 
“Best Friends has been working closely with Riverside community members for more than a year,” said Laura Donahue, Senior Director, Advocacy and Network, Best Friends Animal Society. “A combination of Best Friends’ We are 90 for Riverside campaign and recent advocacy summit in Pomona increased local momentum and support, which led to the passage of this resolution showing the community’s commitment to achieve no-kill. I am so grateful to Supervisor Perez and Gutierrez for their leadership and being such a strong voice for people and their pets.”  
 
Governors and lawmakers nationwide are aligning with no-kill resolutions and proclamations. So far, twelve states have issued no-kill proclamations or resolutions since 2024 – including Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Montana, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.  
 
“In 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom allocated 50 million dollars to help California animal shelters achieve no-kill, furthering his strong commitment to ending the killing of dogs and cats in the state’s shelters,” said Donahue.  

Individuals can help by adopting from shelters or rescue groups, spaying or neutering their pets, fostering animals in need, volunteering, donating, and supporting effective lifesaving programs. 

To learn more visit bestfriends.org. 
 
*No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles. This means cooperation among animal shelters, animal rescue groups, government agencies, community members and other stakeholders, all committed to best practices and protocols. 

About Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization dedicated to saving the lives of dogs and cats in America's shelters and making the entire country no-kill. Founded in 1984, Best Friends runs lifesaving facilities and programs nationwide in partnership with more than 5,000 shelters and rescue organizations. From our headquarters in Kanab, Utah, we also operate the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary — a destination that brings our mission to life for thousands of visitors each year. We maintain the most comprehensive animal sheltering data in the country and make it accessible to the public — empowering communities with critical insights into the needs of their local shelters and how they can help. We believe every dog and cat deserves a home. And we believe that, by working together, we can Save Them All®.