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
Monterey County Animal Services: www.co.monterey.ca.us
City of Salinas Animal Services: cityofsalinas.org/our-city-services/animal-services
Heading Home Animal Rescue: www.headinghomerescue.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
Salinas Animal Services provides vouchers for spay/neuter surgeries to Salinas City residents: cityofsalinas.org/our-city-services/animal-services
SNIP Bus Monterey is a mobile low cost spay/neuter clinic:
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