No Kill is an innovative, cost-effective model of animal sheltering that allows open admission animal control shelters to save all healthy and treatable animals.
~Nathan Winograd
~Nathan Winograd
What Does No Kill Mean?
UPDATE 12/2017
So much has evolved in the past few years since we formed No Kill Columbia in 2011. Shelters across the country have adopted the No Kill business model which equates to millions of more pets saved and adopted into new forever homes! The No Kill Advocacy Center has updated their definition of No Kill, "An end to the killing of all non-irremediably suffering animals." "Irremediable suffering” means an animal who has a poor or grave prognosis for being able to live without severe, unremitting physical pain even with prompt, necessary, and comprehensive veterinary care." They further state, "The Goal of the No Kill movement is not to reduce killing to some consensus based level such as 10%. It is to end killing for all animals who are not irremediably physically suffering." www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/defining-no-kill.html
No Kill is defined simply as a commitment to ensure that all healthy and treatable animals leave a shelter alive! That 90% or more of the animals that walk in the door will walk out by means of adoption, rescue or returned to their family. No Kill shelters euthanize a companion animal only if they are too sick to be treated or too aggressive to be suitable for adoption. No Kill shelters reject euthanasia as a means of population control. They define euthanizing for population control, killing. Best Friends Animal Society explains , "The threshold for a no-kill community is considered to be a 90 percent save rate of all animals entering the shelter system. This allows for the reasonable likelihood that about 10 percent of animals entering a given shelter system will either be irremediably suffering due to injury, illness or age, and euthanasia to end that suffering will be deemed appropriate and humane, or will be too demonstrably or historically aggressive to be responsibly adopted to a member of the public."
Maddie’s Fund states, "One way to think about the meaning of no-kill is to apply the same standard to a shelter animal as you would to your own pet. Would you put your cat down if he had a broken bone? What if your dog had kennel cough or separation anxiety? I don't think most people would take their pet's lives for these conditions."
How do you achieve No Kill? You replace the passive traditional model of sheltering with a proactive, can-do attitude and work ethic that rejects killing. .First and foremost, you must have a compassionate leader/director that believes and is committed to the No kill model of sheltering. You begin the transition by implementing a series of programs collectively referred to as the No Kill equation. The transformation has taken weeks for some, years for others, but all with the ultimate and achievable goal to reach a 90% or higher live release rate within their open door facility. Open door refers to organizations that never turn an animal away. With the right leader focused on life-saving methods, the programs in the No Kill Equation have been proven to eliminate the need for killing as a means of population control in any kind of animal shelter.
Some have come to equate the phrase No Kill as being very literal, meaning that no animals are ever destroyed, and believe those who support no kill concepts, of advocating institutionalized hoarding. Nothing could be further from the truth. No Kill shelters consider the quality of life for each and every animal in their care, and have the same responsibility to protect the public welfare. Animals that are hopelessly ill or injured, or vicious with a poor chance for rehabilitation are humanely euthanized. These animals statistically comprise only about 5-10% of all animals entering shelters.
The following statement and map are courtesy of the No Kill Advocacy Center.
"It has been demonstrated that No-Kill can be achieved in every community, regardless of economic status, number of animal intakes, or geographic location. Today, shelters collectively representing about 500 cities and towns across America, including those in Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Utah, California, New York, Texas and elsewhere, are saving roughly 90% of all animals and as high as 99%. No Kill is a humane, sustainable, cost-effective model that works hand in hand with public health and safety, while fulfilling a fiscal responsibility to taxpayers. The animals deserve it. And so do the people who love them: people like you." Congratulations to our neighbors in Kansas City, Missouri! The Kansas City Pet Project, is presently the 4th largest open admissions, NO KILL municipal shelter.
Maddie’s Fund states, "One way to think about the meaning of no-kill is to apply the same standard to a shelter animal as you would to your own pet. Would you put your cat down if he had a broken bone? What if your dog had kennel cough or separation anxiety? I don't think most people would take their pet's lives for these conditions."
How do you achieve No Kill? You replace the passive traditional model of sheltering with a proactive, can-do attitude and work ethic that rejects killing. .First and foremost, you must have a compassionate leader/director that believes and is committed to the No kill model of sheltering. You begin the transition by implementing a series of programs collectively referred to as the No Kill equation. The transformation has taken weeks for some, years for others, but all with the ultimate and achievable goal to reach a 90% or higher live release rate within their open door facility. Open door refers to organizations that never turn an animal away. With the right leader focused on life-saving methods, the programs in the No Kill Equation have been proven to eliminate the need for killing as a means of population control in any kind of animal shelter.
Some have come to equate the phrase No Kill as being very literal, meaning that no animals are ever destroyed, and believe those who support no kill concepts, of advocating institutionalized hoarding. Nothing could be further from the truth. No Kill shelters consider the quality of life for each and every animal in their care, and have the same responsibility to protect the public welfare. Animals that are hopelessly ill or injured, or vicious with a poor chance for rehabilitation are humanely euthanized. These animals statistically comprise only about 5-10% of all animals entering shelters.
The following statement and map are courtesy of the No Kill Advocacy Center.
"It has been demonstrated that No-Kill can be achieved in every community, regardless of economic status, number of animal intakes, or geographic location. Today, shelters collectively representing about 500 cities and towns across America, including those in Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Utah, California, New York, Texas and elsewhere, are saving roughly 90% of all animals and as high as 99%. No Kill is a humane, sustainable, cost-effective model that works hand in hand with public health and safety, while fulfilling a fiscal responsibility to taxpayers. The animals deserve it. And so do the people who love them: people like you." Congratulations to our neighbors in Kansas City, Missouri! The Kansas City Pet Project, is presently the 4th largest open admissions, NO KILL municipal shelter.
For more information and a list of current No Kill facilities, http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/success/