Wyoming’s save rate for dogs and cats dropped from 89% to 87%, according to annual data report from Best Friends Animal Society  

Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of cats and dogs in shelters by 2025, recently released its annual data report which gives the most accurate and comprehensive national overview of the number of dogs and cats that enter and exit shelters in a given year. During 2022, Wyoming saw increases in both the number of dogs and cats that were saved  as well as the number of dogs and cats unnecessarily killed. 

Some of 2022’s highlights include how Casper Metro Animal Services worked alongside Best Friends to get a shelter assessment in the hopes of increasing their pet lifesaving.  Since then, they have been implementing recommendations to ensure the shelter is operating with best practices. The biggest impact so far continues to be the reduction of disease and virus-related deaths in their cat population by providing vaccines. In addition, the City of Casper formed an animal task force to evaluate ordinances and align with best practices, which includes plans for Community Cat Programming—a humane, cost-effective solution for managing populations of unowned, free-roaming cats (sometimes called stray, feral, or “community cats”). 

Wyoming also added two new no-kill communities in 2022: Hot Springs County and Niobrara County.  

Wyoming reflected what the data showed nationally: The number of dogs and cats killed in U.S. shelters had a setback, with an increase from 355,000 to around 378,000. Targeted programming proven to save more lives, including partnerships between no-kill and not yet no-kill shelters, as well as shelters and rescue groups, Best Friends staff embeds, cat and big-dog-focused initiatives, and advocacy work can help fix the problem.   

“We've made great progress and there is still momentum for our achievable goal, despite the small dip in lifesaving in 2022,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. “2025 is only two years away, so now is the time to support your local shelters. Together, let's make every shelter and every community no-kill by 2025.”  

Individuals can help save lives by choosing to adopt from a shelter or rescue group instead of purchasing from a breeder or store, spay or neuter their pets, foster kittens or an adult dog, volunteer, donate, and advocate for proven lifesaving programming for pets. 

About the data 

For the past seven years, Best Friends has spearheaded a one-of-a-kind extensive data collection process that involves coordinated outreach to every shelter in America followed by additional research, data analysis, and technology development. The dataset is the most comprehensive on U.S. sheltered animals, and is based on data collected directly from shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites, and freedom of information act requests. From this, 95% of the animal intake in U.S. shelters is known, 5% is estimated. Best Friends has the most recently available annual data for 85% of shelters nationwide, nearly three times the amount of Shelter Animals Count and four years newer than that of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

*A 90% save rate is the nationally recognized benchmark to be considered “no-kill,” factoring that approximately 10% of pets who enter shelters have medical or behavioral circumstances that warrant humane euthanasia rather than killing for lack of space. 

About Best Friends Animal Society  

Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to around 378,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 4,200 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit best friends.org