The Formula That Works Ending the killing of healthy dogs and cats is the goal that many determined communities have achieved. Each community has approached the problem differently, but all successful communities have done it with a combination of strategies.

Who Has Done It and How? San Francisco, CA     85% drop in kill rat in 10 years Richmond, VA           30% drop in kill rate in 4 years Jacksonville, FL         20% drop in kill rate in 3 years Phoenix, AZ                73% drop in kill rate in 8 years New York, NY             73% drop in kill rate in 2 years Many More

Prevention
Stop homeless animals from being born.

Spay/neuter is the center of a successful lifesaving effort – the single most effective place to direct shelter resources. Low-cost, high volume spay/neuter programs targeted to low income areas will quickly lead to fewer animals entering the shelter system, allowing more resources to be allocated toward saving lives.

Intervention
Find homes for the homeless.

Spay/neuter decreases the supply of dogs and cats. Equally vital to saving all adoptable and treatable pets is increasing available homes through innovative and aggressive adoption programs.

Retention
Keep adopted pets in their loving homes.

While many of the reasons animals are surrendered to shelters are unavoidable, others can be prevented – but only if we are willing to work with pet owners to help them solve their problems. Saving all healthy and treatable pets requires us to develop innovative strategies for keeping people and their companion animals together.

Rehabilitation
Save treatable animals for adoption.

Saving healthy animals requires an infrastructure of adoption programs and strategies to keep animals in their homes; but saving treatable animals requires an entirely different type of approach. Since these animals are not yet adoptable, more homes will not initially help them. They need medicine, surgery, foster care or behavior rehabilitation before they are ready to be placed with new families.

Collaboration
Work as a community to save lives.

When shelters, rescue groups, animal control agencies, veterinarians, municipalities and citizens contribute their specialties and expertise for one united effort, the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts. Synergy is created. Effectiveness and efficiency are enhanced. Community goals, strategies and successes can be achieved and celebrated.

Education
Create awareness of the problem and solutions.

Studies show that only 30% of dog guardians are aware of the pet overpopulation problem. This implies that most people are completely unaware that animals taken to humane shelters are being killed. Through education we can fundamentally change animal welfare in our community by appealing to the hearts and informing the minds of the public.