See how others are working towards the goal of No Kill 2025
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What exactly does no kill mean? While there are different definitions, no kill generally means that any animal who can leave a shelter alive does. It is usually measured as "noses in, noses out", which may be imperfect, but allows for uniform measure across the nation. If you'd like to see how your community is doing saving the lives of shelter animals, visit the Best Friends Community Lifesaving Dashboard.
Animals who are suffering or gravely ill are often humanely euthanized. Many local shelters assist residents with end of life euthanasia for their beloved pets, which is also appropriate and good. In a no-kill shelter, animals who have curable or treatable diseases will receive the treatment they need and leave the shelter alive through adoption or release. Shelter staff also work with concerned community members to divert some animals from intake - for example community cats who are provided with spay/neuter surgery. When we reduce the number of animals who enter shelters, shelters can focus their limited resources on helping the animals in their care so more leave alive to safe homes.
Learn more about the no kill movement by visiting these sites:
Best Friends Animal Society: bestfriends.org
Best Friends' No Kill page: bestfriends.org/our-work/no-kill-initiatives
Alley Cat Allies: alleycat.org
Humane Society: humanesociety.org
Kitten Lady: kittenlady.org
Local organizations:
Animal Friends Rescue Project: animalfriendsrescue.org
SPCA for Monterey County: spcamc.org
Project Purr in Santa Cruz: projectpurr.org
Hitchcock Road Animal Services (the Salinas County and City shelters): www.hitckcockroadanimals.org
City of Salinas Animal Services: cityofsalinas.org/our-city-services/animal-services
Heading Home Animal Rescue: www.headinghomerescue.org/
Best Life TNR and Rescue: www.bestliferescue.org/
Local organizations providing low-cost spay/neuter services:
SPCA for Monterey County provides low-cost spay/neuter for feral and owned animals: spcamc.org
Hitchcock Road Animal Services has a free feral clinic for Salinas City and Unincorporated Monterey County feral cats: www.hitckcockroadanimals.org
SNIP Bus Monterey is a mobile low cost spay/neuter clinic: https://www.snipbus.org
Big Fix Monterey County: www.bigfixmc.org/
Local organizations helping divert animals from local shelters:
Peace of Mind Dog Rescue: peaceofminddogrescue.org
Animal Shelter Relief: animalshelterrelief.org
Golden Oldies Cat Rescue: gocatrescue.org
Local organizations who may be able to help with medical costs:
Peace of Mind Dog Rescue Helping Paw: peaceofminddogrescue.org
Max's Helping Paws Foundation: www.maxshelpingpaws.org
BirchBark Foundation: www.birchbarkfoundation.org