Photo courtesy of RescueWarrior & Pixabay.com.
The NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles) initiative, led by Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles, brings together animal lovers, animal shelters and a coalition of 135-plus local animal welfare organizations to end the routine euthanasia of cats and dogs in City of Los Angeles shelters.
NKLA was launched in 2012 with the goal of achieving, by 2017, no-kill animal shelters (where at least 90% of animals leave the shelter alive) in the City of Los Angeles. In 2012, city shelters had only managed to save 58% of their animals, destroying 18,000 cats and dogs. By 2015, with the help of NKLA, the number of cats and dogs killed in city shelters had decreased, but more than 6,000 cats and dogs still lost their lives simply because there was nowhere to place them. That same year, NKLA did find homes for 27,100 cats and dogs.
By 2017, the save rate in city shelters had increased to 86%. The save rate for dogs had increased to 92%, up from 71% in 2011 (surpassing NKLA’s goal of 90%). The save rate for cats increased from 36% to 79% over the same period. Los Angeles is fast becoming the nation’s largest no-kill city. It is estimated that the NKLA initiative has saved the lives of more than 227,000 animals. County of Los Angeles shelters, although trailing behind the City of Los Angeles, have been actively improving, raising their save rates from 49% in 2012 to 63% in 2017.
Besides its Los Angeles chapter, Best Friends Animal Society, a national advocate for saving animals, also has chapters in Salt Lake City, New York and Atlanta. It was founded in 1984 in Utah. Its goal is to, by 2025, achieve nationally what it is achieving in Los Angeles.
Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles hosts adoption and fundraising events and operates pet adoption centers in Mission Hills and West L.A.
Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles
Best Friends Pet Adoption and Spay/Neuter Center
15321 Brand Blvd
Mission Hills, CA 91345
NKLA Pet Adoption Center
1845 Pontius Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Also see: Animal Shelters in Los Angeles County
and City of Los Angeles Animal Services statistics.
