3 No-Kill Rescues Leading the Way in Animal Welfare

Animal shelters commonly euthanize animals if they go unadopted for too long. It’s an unfortunate truth that helps the shelter avoid overcrowding. Some shelters will even set “time limits” for an animal’s adoption. If they aren’t adopted within a certain time frame, they might get put down. A no-kill animal rescue, on the other hand, prioritizes finding homes for its animals. In this case, euthanization is an absolute last resort. Typically, these shelters will only euthanize an animal if it is severely ill and untreatable or completely unadoptable. 

According to Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society for the no-kill rescue Best Friends Animal Society (one of our picks highlighted below), “No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress.”

No-kill shelters are incredibly important for the well-being of animals. Here are three no-kill animal rescues that are making a difference in the animal welfare space.

1. Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends Animal Society is an animal welfare organization that’s dedicated to making the entire country no-kill. The rescue was founded by a group of friends in Kanab, UT, back in 1984. Each of the friends had already been involved in animal rescue, and together, fueled by the desire to save pets and forge their own paths, they built the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. At the time, it boasted over 1,500 dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, horses, and pigs. 

Now, the rescue has grown into a national animal welfare organization offering lifesaving facilities.

The rescue also provides programs and partners with over 5,000 shelters and rescue organizations across the country. “Last year, nearly 4 million dogs and cats were saved in U.S. shelters because of increased support and momentum for no-kill programs across the country,” Castle shares.

How This No-Kill Animal Rescue Gives Back

“Best Friends Animal Society’s mission is to bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets,” Castle shares. “Best Friends is working to take the country no-kill, which means saving every healthy and treatable pet, and getting them into loving homes, not shelters, where they belong.”

If you want to get involved with or give back to Best Friends Animal Society — or more so its mission — consider choosing adoption when you’re ready to bring a new pet home. “According to new data from Best Friends, if just 6% more people planning to bring home a cat or dog chose adoption, the country would become no-kill,” Castle reveals.

Additionally, fostering pets, volunteering with the organization, and advocating for animals in your community can make a world of difference. For more information on donating, visit bestfriends.org/donate.

2. Goathouse Refuge

Founded in 2007 by Siglinda Scarpa, the Goathouse Refuge is a no-kill animal rescue and cage-free cat sanctuary for abandoned or lost felines. According to the company’s mission statement, the rescue does not turn any cat away, regardless of age, illness, or disposition. Its main goal is to find a loving family for each of them. In fact, the rescue has already done so for more than 3,000 cats.

“In the mid-1980s, [Scarpa] wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of the large city to live in a place where she and her two cats felt safe and she could build a pottery studio,” shares Susan Brinkley-Clayton, a volunteer at Goathouse Refuge. So, she visited the rustic hills of rural Chatham County, North Carolina, in search of the ideal property. Soon enough, she found a barn-like home and farmhouse in the middle of the woods.

Scarpa knew it was perfect, and eventually, she began to save animals within her community, adopting and fostering them. “One day, a woman from Alley Cat Allies called asking if she had room for animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina survivors who may very well be put to death,” Brinkley-Clayton shares. “Of course, she said yes, and six cats joined her family.”

As time passed, Scarpa received more and more calls, adding more and more rescues to her sanctuary. By 2007, she decided to officially launch the nonprofit. Her efforts have made a major difference, especially in a state known for its frequent euthanization of animals. “The dream [Scarpa] had as a little girl growing up in postwar Italy, to be with and help animals, was quickly becoming a reality,” Brinkley-Clayton says.

How This No-Kill Animal Rescue Gives Back

In 2022, the Goathouse Refuge began to focus more on older cats, semi-feral cats, and cats with special needs. Despite growing up in homes with long-time owners, many of these animals were abandoned. Once some of them reached a certain age or required more specialized care, their owners neglected them. These types of felines are rarely adopted by new owners, too, putting them at risk of euthanasia. 

Oftentimes, when an animal is sick or deemed unadoptable, a shelter will euthanize it. Instead of offering such a grim fate to the animals, Scarpa sets out to offer a lifetime of care. “The Refuge is designed so that cats can spend long periods here comfortably, awaiting adoption,” Goathouse Refuge explains on its website. “In fact, it is designed so that a cat could spend years, or even its entire lifetime, at the sanctuary, which many have done just that.”

The refuge uses cages sparingly, only when necessary for intakes, feeding, and treatments. Otherwise, the cats are free to roam around and play with one another. Not only that, but they also get a ton of human interaction and love.

If you want to give back to this no-kill shelter, consider adopting or sponsoring a cat. Even if you can’t take a furry friend home, you can still adopt a virtual kitty. This allows you to donate money toward its care. Many choose to foster a feline. By doing this, you can offer love, support, and care to the animal while it’s waiting to find its forever home. And, of course, you can also volunteer or donate to the mission. 

3. Eleventh Hour Rescue

Eleventh Hour Rescue is a volunteer-run, no-kill animal rescue based in New Jersey. Founded by Linda Schiller in 2004, the rescue started out of Schiller’s home. After recruiting friends and loved ones to help, she began to save as many strays as possible. Eventually, Schiller started her 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteer-based organization.

Originally, when working in an inner city neighborhood, Schiller began feeding the packs of stray cats and dogs. She deemed herself “the crazy dog lady in the neighborhood.” Schiller couldn’t continue to watch the abandoned and neglected animals roam the streets without families or care. So, she began to take some of the animals home. In doing so, she’d get them checked at the vet and run adoptions out of her house. 

Around this time, Schiller received a concerning email while at work one day, which changed everything for her. The email stated: “Over 20 dogs to be gassed in a shelter in Georgia on Wednesday.” She didn’t realize that type of thing still happened in the United States. In a near panic, she called the shelter and, through some out-of-state workarounds, was able to save all the pups.

Unfortunately, Schiller has since passed away, but Eleventh Hour Rescue still carries on her mission.

How This No-Kill Animal Rescue Gives Back

“The initial focus was on rescuing dogs from high-kill shelters,” Jay Karamanol, Vice President of Eleventh Hour Rescue, says of the non-profit. “To date, we have successfully adopted over 50,000 rescue animals.” 

“Our mission is to rescue as many animals as possible, advocate for misunderstood breeds, educate the public about the importance of spaying and neutering, and positively impact the community and the people we serve,” Karamanol continues.

If you want to get involved with or give back to Eleventh Hour Rescue, you can provide monetary donations, volunteer time, and donate items of need. For more information, visit the website’s donation page.

“At Eleventh Hour Rescue, we are continually humbled by the dedication of our volunteers who work tirelessly to promote the adoption of our rescues,” Karamanol adds. “We also appreciate our generous donors and the public for supporting our mission. We truly could not do this without your support. Thank you!”