Of the 625,000 US shelter animals killed in 2019, 30.9% are dogs and 69.1% are cats (2018 was 32.9% dogs and 67.1% cats).
BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY: Over the past three years, Best Friends has spearheaded a first-of-its-kind extensive data collection process that involved coordinated outreach to every shelter in America followed by additional research, data analysis, and technology development. To create the most comprehensive data set on animal welfare ever published, Best Friends collected data directly from shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites, and even FOIA requests. The Best Friends 2020 dataset (consisting of statistics collected during 2019) of U.S. shelters has a total net intake of 5,360,060 animals representing 4,850 known shelters…
The year-over-year data shows that the number of dogs and cats killed annually nationally has dropped from about 733,000 to 625,000 (or about 1,700 killed per day)… The top five states where the most pets need to be saved are California, Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, who together make up more than 50% of the nation’s shelter killing of dogs and cats. While the top five states with the smallest number of pets being killed are Vermont, Rhode Island, North Dakota, New Hampshire and Delaware, which has once again reached no-kill status in the state (a state is considered to be no-kill when every brick-and-mortar shelter serving and/or located within the state has a save rate of 90% or higher)…
Notable highlights from the findings include:
— Across the U.S., about 5.4 million dogs and cats entered shelters in 2019, and 4.2 million were saved making the national save rate 79.02% (2018 was 76.6%)
— There are more than 2,000 no-kill shelters nationwide (up 15% from 2018), which means that 44% of the nation’s shelters are now no-kill
— Despite continued progress, just 35% of communities around the country are considered no-kill (up from 28 percent in 2018)
— Of the total number of pets killed, 30.9% are dogs and 69.1% are cats (2018 was 32.9% dogs and 67.1% cats)
— While dog intakes are nearly 10% higher than cats, more than 2 cats are now being killed for every 1 dog
“We are seeing continued momentum and progress towards the goal of ending the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters by the year 2025, with the overall number of pets being killed in the U.S. continuing to go down and the number of shelters that are no-kill going up,” said Julie Castle, chief executive officer, Best Friends Animal Society. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: