No Kill Means What?

The number one cause of death for cats in the US- Shelters

It occurred to us recently that people may not realize that we are no kill and what that means exactly.

So what does no kill mean?  No kill is an industry term that means that the organization does not euthanize healthy or treatable pets in their care.  The general threshold is that they are saving 90% or more of the entire population of pets in their care.   That means every dog and cat that comes into their shelter, not just the “adoptable” ones.  The Lynchburg Humane Society has been no kill since 2011.

No Kill does not mean we don’t euthanize. We do euthanize animals that are medically unable to be helped and those that pose a public safety risk in our professional opinions.   We take euthanasia decisions very seriously and it is a decision that ultimately is decided on by our Staff  Veterinarian, myself and our Director of Operations. 

We like to look at the entire community as no kill rather than just us because there can be private humane societies that are no kill, like Roanoke SPCA, but their neighbors the Regional Center for Animal Control and Protection, their partner is not.  So Roanoke is not a no kill community.  There are many examples of that in our area where a private humane society or rescue group is no kill but the entire county or city is not.

We don’t “talk” about it much and you would have trouble finding reference to it on our website or Facebook page.   We have always referred to our No Kill mission and vision as community based because it is more than just one organization. 

Here is how the other communities around us are doing in regards to their save rates.

Local Pounds         Save Rate 2015
Amherst County          57%
Appomattox County    71%
Bedford County           80% *
Campbell County         52%
Lynchburg City            94%

So what can you do with this information?

There certainly comes a time when the community as a whole might consider asking for a change in the county or city life saving practices in which you live.  If the idea of leading a charge to affect change in a community is too daunting consider asking questions of the No Kill humane societies and rescue groups to see what impact they are having on the over all save rate in the county they serve and help those that are really trying to change the status quo and solve the problem.   There are many  great ones in our area, too many to list. But a few include Harmony Rescue,  All American Mutt, the Friends of groups such as Bedford, Campbell and Appomattox.  The humane societies of Bedford, Campbell and Amherst Counties are also no kill. 

There is a story I have heard in this industry that kind of sums it up called the river babies. It goes something like this. One summer in the village, the people in town gathered for a picnic.  Someone noticed a baby in the river, struggling and crying. The baby was going to drown!  Someone rushed to save the baby. Then, they noticed another screaming baby in the river, and they pulled that baby out. Soon, more babies were seen drowning in the river, and the townspeople were pulling them out as fast as they could.  It took great effort, and they began to organize their activities in order to save the babies as they came down the river.  As everyone else was busy in the rescue efforts, two of the townspeople started to run away along the shore of the river.
“Where are you going?” shouted one of the rescuers. “We need you here to help us save the babies!”  They yelled, “We are going upstream to stop whoever is throwing them in!”

As an industry a lot of us are reacting to the situation and basically bailing the sinking ship.  But there comes a time when we have to solve the problem of the hole in the ship or stop the babies from even making it to the river.  

To us, No Kill is working with the community to solve the problem.  This includes trying to reduce the amount of pets we have coming in to the shelter and increasing the amount we are saving, so no life is taken just because there is no space.




To help the Lynchburg Humane Society with their efforts to save pets in our community and in high euthanizing counties click here to donate.  $89 saves one pet from euthanasia and brings them to our facility where they are safe until they find a home.  Give today.

*this is a update from the original post due to a formula error.