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- Best Friends Animal Society reports a 3.4% decrease in animal kills nationwide.
- Pet adoptions have increased by 4%, offering more shelter animals a chance for homes.
- Best Friends in Salt Lake City and elsewhere encourages adoptions and fostering, aiming to reduce shelter euthanasia rates further.
SALT LAKE CITY — This holiday season is starting off on the right foot — or the right paw — for cats and dogs across the country, including in Utah.
Best Friends Animal Society, a leading pet shelter and national pet advocacy group from Utah, has collected data from their shelters and others across the country that shows a 3.4% decrease in the number of animals killed during the first nine months of the year. If this trend continues, this decrease will be the first since the pandemic.
The good news continues. During the same period, the number of pet adoptions from shelters increased by 4%.
In other words, cats and dogs that came to the shelters had a better chance of leaving the shelter for a safe home than in years past.
"Our goal is to get all of the animals adopted," said Patrick Theobald, community program manager for Best Friends Animal Society in Salt Lake City. "We believe every animal deserves a second chance at a home, and we work to do just that."
Although the Best Friends national data points are not broken down state by state, Theobald said the local agency follows their lead in applying the national experience to the local experience.
Presently there are 60 animal shelters throughout Utah. Not all shelters are no-kill, though, meaning that except for euthanasia, when animals need a merciful death due to cancer or injury, six or seven shelters can kill the cats and dogs due to lack of space. Best Friends staff note that just because a shelter is not a no-kill does not mean that they do kill their animals or have in the past. It is a last-resort option.
Many of the cats and dogs in Utah's shelters were donated due to increased housing costs and inflation. If apartments increase the monthly pet fee along with the rent, that may be too much for someone to afford. If a pet owner had to move from one apartment to another that does not allow pets, the renter may have made the difficult decision to donate their animal to a shelter.
Best Friends and other shelters cannot fix the housing crisis, but they can encourage those with the interest and the housing to adopt a pet. National Mutt Day is Monday, Dec. 2, and is a time for mixed-breed pups to get some attention, love and hopefully a new home.
Interested in adoption?
If you are interested in adopting a dog or fostering a cat or a dog, contact Best Friends Animal Society in Salt Lake City at 801-574-2454. You can also visit the organization's website at bestfriends.org/salt-lake-city.
This weekend, Best Friends affiliates across the country — including in Salt Lake City — will waive adoption fees for anyone who can safely care for a dog and wants to bring one home. Information will also be available for those wishing to make a shorter commitment and foster a mutt instead.
This is all done in hopes of keeping the number of pet kills down, the rate of adoptions up and ensuring cats and dogs across Utah and beyond have another chance to be in a loving home.
"If 6% more people in Utah adopted a pet from a shelter, all of them would be no-kill because each shelter would have the space for the animals they have left. That's it. Six percent," Theobald said. "The adoption and no-kill numbers are the result of the community around us stepping in and making a difference.
"People can and are making the difference."
