Did you know that over 4,000,000 dogs and cats are killed in America’s shelters every year?
That’s over 7 animals per minute and 9,000 adoptable pets every day.
This sobering statistic is not widely known, but has been the impetus for the grassroots “no-kill” movement in recent years. Shockingly, as bad as this problem seems now, it used to be much worse. In the 1980’s nearly 17 million cats and dogs were euthanized in our shelters every year. Thanks to the tireless work of organizations such as Best Friends Animal Society these numbers have come down drastically, but obviously remain unacceptable.
Best Friends Animal Society
As a pioneer of the no-kill movement, Best Friends Animal Society has been working for nearly 30 years to reduce the number of pets killed in shelters to zero.
They strive towards this goal in a variety of ways:
- Adoption – Best Friends helps to educate and raise awareness about animal adoption and even runs their own adoption centers in New York City, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City.
- Spay/Neuter Initiatives -Best Friends educates about the importance of spaying/neutering pets and offers discount clinics across the county to make it affordable for everyone.
- Community Programs – Best Friends helps to support the No-Kill initiative and the good work of aligned local organizations across the country. Events include the No More Homeless Pets Conference and the Strut Your Mutt, fundraising fun-walk and 5k event!
Check out their interactive Local Program Map to see what events are taking place in your back yard!
Working Together: A Nature’s Variety Partnership!
A leader in the natural pet food space, Nature’s Variety believes that every animal deserves access to high quality nutrition. They also strongly believe in the work Best Friends Animal Foundation is doing to save animals in this country! For this reason, Nature’s Variety Instinct has become the official pet food partner of Best Friends and are pledging $650,000 of support in 2015 alone!
Our boys have been eating Nature’s Variety Instinct for over 6 months now and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Nature’s Variety even sent some Instinct Munchies for us to try and giveaway to 3 lucky readers below!!
We know your pup will love the taste…you will love the high quality, no-nonsense ingredients!
Long Live Pets
Best Friends Animal Society and Nature’s Variety have teamed up for a very important campaign, Long Live Pets, to inspire support for the no-kill movement. Together they are creating a film to celebrate the first day in the new life of a rescued dog. Watch the trailer, here. Go head and try to not cry, it is beautiful!
If that wasn’t adorable enough, you can be a part of creating this inspiring film by submitting pictures of your BEST FRIEND before the March 31st deadline! Charlie and Harley have already submitted theirs!
Head on over to Long Live Pets or use the hashtag #longlivepets on Facebook or Twitter to submit a photo!
All dogs deserve a happy life. We are so incredibly thankful for the the tireless work of organizations like Best Friends Animal Society, who give homeless pets, like our Harley and Charlie, a second chance at that.
You can help by submitting your photos and sharing this post on social media to help spread the word. It may seem like a simple act, but this movie will be used to inspire thousands more to join the no-kill movement by adopting a pet, volunteering, or making a donation!
Oh my goodness I want that brindle pup in the second picture soo bad!
I would love to get into fostering dogs once i’m done with school. We’re thinking of moving within the next year and want to purchase a large piece of property to work with dogs, foster, train etc..i’d really like to get more involved with rescue groups. It breaks my heart seeing dogs in shelters and knowing the stats…
This is so awesome! My favorite shelter here is no-kill! They are very popular and they have a great adoption rate, around 200+ pets a week! Portland is a very pet friendly place. Everyone has a pet here. I try to donate to them as much as possible.
I love Best Friends Animal Society and all they are doing to help homeless pets. How wonderful that Nature’s Variety is now getting involved!
And I just submitted a photo of Luke!
Sounds like a great program. Thanks so much for sharing it on the hop!
A lot of progress has been made in reducing pet euthanasia and increasing adoption but I long for the day we become a no kill nation. I think it’s within our reach but it won’t happen overnight. Organizations and programs like these do tremendous work. I hope that one day people will be accountable for their pets and shelters will be near empty instead of over crowded.
We agree Cathy. Education is key and I think that starts with awareness!
Thanks for joining the hop! We use Nature’s Variety raw lamb (and sometimes beef.) It is a quality food, but I haven’t seen the treats around, I’ll have to check them out.
Delilah came to us via a high kill shelter, so I love that more shelters are working towards no kill.
We are so glad you and Delilah found each other! Maybe you will win some!!
Sounds like a great program, we are heading over to submit a photo! Great post, thanks for sharing!
Your picture will be stunning and help a great cause!
Great minds think alike – I wrote about no-kill too! I ‘lub’ your article – it gives facts to the issue. Thanks for including a fun little photo contest and encouraging broader learning of the topic – bless you!
Mattiedog, A Little Dog Making a Big Difference in This World
We will go check out your post now! I am amazed at the work of Best Friends Animal Society who have been doing this work for 30 years! Thanks for your work too! <3
Great program, the word definitely still needs to get out there to people. And I love Best Friends Animal Society too. Your golden is the best model!
Aww, thanks Peggy! Bloggers and brands working together can help to influence change!
Good for you, Nature’s Variety. Good job.
Thanks 🙂 Bloggers and brands teaming up are unstoppable!
Such a great project, I can’t wait to see the final film!
Me too! The trailer made me tear up!
Those stats are so sad. Wonderful that Natures Variety is working for change
Best Friends and Nature’s Variety and Bloggers! Unstoppable!
What a great program! It is sad that so many animals are euthanized every single day. My cats have some freeze dried raw treats from Nature’s valley Instinct and they love them. I hope that the program is successful and that many more pets can be saved.
You should enter…our cats love these too! THanks for checking out the post and for all the work you are doing to help spread the word about cat rescue!
Thank you for sharing these statistics. I think a lot of people live in denial of the truth, and it’s really important that we put it out there. Only by knowing the facts can we work to change them!
So true! Sadly bully breeds are so over represented in the stats. One of Best Friends missions is to educate about the importance of spay/neutering pit bull breeds. We look forward to being able to foster someday to get more dogs waiting for their forever homes in a loving and safe place!
Sounds like a great program, and it’s so inspirational that they’ve been going for 30 years. It’s still shocking everytime I see those statistics, especially when they’re broken down into minutes. Every dog does deserve a happy home and I’m glad there are so many great people out there willing to help our canine friends. I’m also really loving this trend of adding in some positive themed ads for shelters – don’t get me wrong the Sarah Mclachlan (sp?) ads probably bought in a ton of donations for animals.. But there’s something inspirational about seeing shelter dogs being happy and showing them in a good light – I think it’s helping to spread awareness that shelter dogs aren’t damaged goods. They’ve ended up there at no fault of their own. Now people can clearly see what sorts of awesome companions are just waiting for them. And oh yeah I nominated you for a Liebster, I forgot the part of the rules where I’m supposed to comment about it 🙂
Ha! Yes, we saw the nomination and plan on responding. Just have been so busy! We appreciate it so much!
As for this post, we agree. The trailer makes us cry! We love it so much! Shelter/rescue dogs can have the happiest of lives!
What a fantastic initiative and great to see bloggers getting the word out!
Thanks Carol! There are so many dogs out there who need some extra lovin. I had no idea how powerful it could be to rescue until we brought our boys home. My only regret is not having more time with them 🙂
I love to see partnerships like this take place! What a great cause!
What a wonderful initiative between Best Friends & Nature’s Variety! Just shared it on Twitter 🙂