EXPLORE
How ‘no-kill’ animal shelter policies slowly kill animals
When animal shelters and adoption groups with “no-kill” policies are filled to capacity—which they almost always are—they’re left with two options:
- Turn away
- Warehouse animals—typically in substandard, filthy, and severely crowded conditions—for weeks, months, or even years
Most, if not all, of the animals who are turned away from shelters with “no-kill” policies still face untimely deaths—just not at these facilities and not in a painless, peaceful manner like euthanasia.
Instead, they’re dumped on the roadside and left to die from starvation, being hit by a car, or disease; spend their short lives homeless and unwanted; and produce more litters of animals for whom no homes exist and who may even be cruelly killed by people who don’t want them.
Are ‘no-kill’ shelter policies killing animals near you?
Map Key
Animal hoarded and neglected
Animal turned away
Animal died in transport
Animal inhumanely crowded and warehoused
Dangerous animal released or warehoused indefinitely
Animal abused, killed, or abandoned due to poor screening processes
Animal died in a fire
Staff charged with financial fraud
Miscellaneous misconduct
