Transitioning to No-Kill 

Using Data to Make Austin a No-Kill City

March 2012
Today, Austin has a save rate of 91%. That wasn’t the case just four years ago when 44% of the animals coming into the Austin Animal Center were losing their lives. Dr. Ellen Jefferson recounts how she used the shelter’s data to figure out bottlenecks in the system and develop and fine-tune programs to fill in the gaps.  Read More

Maddie's Shelter Medicine Conference

November 2009
On October 23 and 24, 2009, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine hosted the second annual Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Conference in Gainesville, Florida. Eight power point presentations from the conference are available for viewing. They include: transitioning to adoption guarantee, creating a pet evaluation matrix, top adoption and marketing strategies and foster care.  Read More

It Happened at EXPO: A Summary of Maddie's Daylong Workshop

2009
Maddie's eight-hour workshop, Is An Adoption Guarantee Really Possible? Four Steps to Success held in Las Vegas at The HSUS Animal Care EXPO, drew more than 200 attendees interested in saving the lives of their communities' healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats.  Read More

The Charlottesville, Virginia No-Kill Journey

2007
In 2005, the SPCA made an adoption guarantee commitment to its supporters and to the animals in its care – a guarantee of a forever home to all healthy and behaviorally sound animals.  Read More

Moving from a Traditional to a No-Kill Shelter

2007
Bonney Brown describes her journey of transitioning a traditional humane society into a no-kill facility.  Read More

The Humane Society of Tampa Bay's New No-Kill Policy

2004
The percentage of shelter adoptions nearly doubled after the no-kill policy was implemented, but instead of spending time on euthanasia, staff spend time with individual animals to improve their health and behavior.  Read More

The End of an Era

2004
Preparing the community for a change in policy is an important component of transitioning to no-kill.  Read More

New Policy Saves all Healthy and Treatable Shelter Pets

2004
The Board started planning for a transition when it realized it was no longer acceptable to continue to euthanize one animal simply to make room for another.  Read More

Richmond’s Road to No-Kill

2003
In 1998, The Richmond SPCA adopted a plan to become a no-kill institution, establish a partnership with the local animal control agency, and become a no-kill community.  Read More

Taking the Community No-Kill

2001
Nathan Winograd provides the keys to his success in transitioning the Tompkins County SPCA – and the entire community – to no-kill.  Read More

San Francisco: The Nation's First Adoption Guarantee City

2000
The San Francisco SPCA transitioned to no-kill by building adoption, spay/neuter, and animal behavior programs, giving up the animal control contract, and signing a landmark agreement with animal control in 1994 guaranteeing a loving home for every healthy San Francisco cat and dog.  Read More