Above from the Best Friends Animal Society
The Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization, today released its sixth annual Pet Rescue Record, which provides a national overview of the number of dogs and cats entering and leaving shelters each year.
Best Friends measures animal shelter rescue using a metric called the Save Rate. A savings rate of 90 percent is the nationally recognized benchmark, which is considered a “no-kill”, taking into account that around 10 percent of pets entering an animal shelter have medical or behavioral circumstances that warrant humane euthanasia instead of other reasons, such as lack of space, kill. In 2020, 103,188 dogs and cats were taken to shelters in Tennessee and 90,054 were rescued, giving the state an overall savings rate of 87.27%.
Rutherford County
In Rutherford County in particular, the latest data indicate a 2020 save rate of 95.1% for cats and dogs. Broken down, 95.06% of cats brought to the Pet Adoption and Welfare Services (PAWS) office were adopted rather than euthanized. The rate of rescued dogs was 95.33%. A total of 3,097 cats and 2,614 dogs came to the PAWS office last year.
Entire state
For Tennessee as a whole, 37.50% of state rentals were above the 90% mark. Those below that had to save 4,740 more healthy or treatable animals in order for Tennessee not to be killed (a state is considered non-killing if every stationary shelter that serves and / or is located in that state has a rescue rate of 90 % or more).
69% of animal shelter deaths in 2020 were cats, most of which were free range cats that lived in townships that had barriers to programming traps, castration, vaccination, and return. At the national level, community cat programs have significantly reduced the number of cats entering shelters, greatly improved savings rates and created public health benefits.
For comparison: In 2019, 126,141 animals were sent to state animal shelters and 103,355 were rescued, which corresponds to an overall savings rate of 81.94%. At the time, 37.04% of the shelters were unskillable, and those below that had to save 10,882 more animals.
“In recent years we have seen lifesaving efforts, particularly in urban areas of the state, as city authorities have worked to deliver effective programs and community-based support services,” said Angela Rovetto, senior strategist – East Region, Best Friends Society for Animals. “Some of these agencies, like Memphis Animal Services, Metro Animal Care and Control, Young Williams Animal Center, and McKamey Animal Center, have partnered with animal welfare organizations and hugged their community members in pursuit of a shared goal of saving more lives for community pets. While there is still much work to be done, especially to help rural people and pets connect with resources and support, working together has been lifesaving. ”
To view your progress and that of your community, click here.
“This has been a monumental year for cats and dogs in America’s animal shelters,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. “We’ve seen communities, shelters, and individuals advocate for animals in ways we couldn’t imagine, and now we’re closer than ever to our goal of not killing by 2025.”
The COVID-19 pandemic affected this year’s data as many accommodations or services had to partially close or reduce services. Communities and individuals filled this void through volunteering, advancement, and adoption. As a result, fewer pets were put into shelters and more lives were saved.
“This year’s advances have been exceptional in what we’ve seen in community support and involvement and the lifesaving numbers that have resulted from it. It is critical that we build on this dynamic to keep pets out of shelters and in loving homes where they belong. So we’ll be able not to kill, ”said Castle.
About 347,000 cats and dogs were killed in American animal shelters nationwide in 2020, up from 625,000 in 2019. This is the largest annual decrease in dogs and cats killed in the nation’s animal shelters (44.5 percent), bringing the nation to 83 Percent equals putting rate save. Best Friends has the most comprehensive national data on protected animals, which is an estimated 93 percent of all protected dogs and cats in the country.
“Since we announced our no-kill goal, the number of cats and dogs killed in shelters has decreased by 76 percent, from about 1.5 million in 2016. That’s incredible progress, but we’re never allowed to go out of them Losing eyes that there are still over 950 cats. “And dogs are killed every day simply because they don’t have a safe place to call home,” said Castle.
For the past six years, Best Friends has spearheaded a unique extensive data collection process that included coordinated contact with each animal shelter in America, followed by additional research, data analysis and technology development. The dataset is the most comprehensive on protected animals and is based on data straight from animal shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites, and even FOIA inquiries. This year, Best Friends introduced a new user experience for their pet lifesaving dashboard that clearly shows the data and continues to inspire community members by highlighting the areas where it is most needed for homeless pets in their communities.