Courtesy
SEATTLE — Seattle Area Feline Rescue, a non-profit, no-kill rescue that takes in homeless cats and kittens, gives them the care they need to recover, and finds them loving homes, maintained no-kill in 2024, according to Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters.
Best Friends, which has the most comprehensive and accurate national animal welfare statistics database in the industry, states that 2 out of 3 of shelters across the country were no-kill in 2024, compared to just 22.4% in 2016.
Shelters receiving the no-kill recognition award saved more than 90% of the dogs and cats in their care in calendar year 2024.
“Since 2016, when Best Friends announced our commitment to lead the United States to no-kill by 2025, we’ve made monumental progress,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, “Over the last eight years, Americans have helped save nearly 60 percent more pets from dying in U.S. shelters. This award recognizes your contribution through the lifesaving work you make possible.”
Highlights of programming and steps taken by Seattle Area Feline Rescue to achieve it’s no-kill include:
• Committing to a low barrier adoption process to minimize bias and get cats into homes more quickly.
• Nurturing a strong foster program where foster caregivers are given the skills, supplies, and resources for success, as well as implementing an online pet triage system to provide 24-hour support.
• The shelter’s on-site intensive care unit (ICU) creates the ability to isolate contagious diseases and provide close monitoring and supportive care for diseases like panleukopenia without risking the health of other cats in their care.
• Having a designated ringworm isolation room, allowing Seattle Area Feline Rescue to take in ringworm positive cats who would otherwise be killed.