No Kill Advocacy Center

History

The No Kill Advocacy Center was founded in 2004 by Nathan Winograd, after he had "created the nation’s first—and at the time, only—No Kill community" in Tompkins County, New York. Rather than accepting the typical approach of the humane movement "that the best shelters can do for homeless animals is to adopt out some and kill the rest", Winograd believed that a shelter could save "100 percent of healthy and treatable animals, and 100 percent of feral cats". He took on the position of shelter director for the SPCA of Tompkins County in June 2011, and was able to stop killing immediately. He continued at the position for three years, solidifying the approach, and developing the No Kill Equation, a "roadmap to No Kill" that other organizations could follow.

Winograd created the No Kill Advocacy Center to advise other organizations and expand no kill animal sheltering across the United States. At the start of 2012, thirty no kill communities had been identified; by the end of the year there were almost 90. In 2013, hundreds of communities in the United States were reported as saving from 90% to 99% of impounded animals using the No Kill Equation model of sheltering. A new community announced its No Kill status about every week. Winograd stated that the successes of no kill communities "prove that there is a formula for lifesaving, and that if we are to achieve a No Kill nation, it is incumbent upon shelters nationwide to embrace the programs and services which have been proven to save lives."

No Kill Conference

The No Kill Advocacy Center held its first annual No Kill Conference in 2005, with Winograd as the only speaker, and less than two dozen in attendance. The 2012 conference had 33 speakers, including shelter directors with save rates as high as 98%. Attendance jumped from 300 the previous year, to nearly 900. Half of the attendees were from shelters, many of them municipal shelters which historically had "acrimony with the rescue and no kill community but were embracing it in droves in 2012."

The 2013 conference, hosted jointly with the Animal Law Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., included participants from 44 states and 10 countries. Workshops included No Kill 101, Adopting Your Way Out of Killing, Shelter Medicine for Non-Veterinarians, and Using Technology to Save Lives. Free admission was offered to directors of animal control agencies, with reduced admission for rescue groups and students. A participant from No Kill Harford, an organization dedicated to bringing the movement to Harford County, Maryland, described the conference as "an amazing opportunity to network with people who have actually succeeded at transforming their local open admission animal shelters from a place where the majority of animals are killed to a place where almost all are saved".

In 2014, the conference was postponed in favor of a national "No Kill is Love" tour promoting the organization's new film, Redemption: The No Kill Revolution in America. The 2015 conference is scheduled for July 11–12 in Washington, D.C.

Redemption: The No Kill Revolution in America

In 2014, the organization produced a film, Redemption: The No Kill Revolution in America. The film was first screened on June 6, 2014, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The film won the Audience award in the San Pedro International Film Festival in San Pedro, California.

Just One Day

On June 11, 2012, the organization joined Minnesota’s Animal Ark, a no kill shelter, to launch an annual national day of No Kill called "Just One Day." The idea of Animal Ark's executive director, Mike Fry, "We asked shelters across the country to put down their 'euthanasia needles' and pick up cameras: to photograph animals, promote them and find them homes instead" and not to kill any healthy or treatable animals on that day. June 11 was chosen as it was the anniversary of the creation of the first No Kill Community, when Winograd started working at the SPCA of Tompkins County in Ithaca, New York.

The campaign's website estimates that "in U.S. animal shelters, a day represents 10,411 lives needlessly lost." A primary goal of the campaign was not only to save animals through adoption on June 11, but to get shelters resistant to the No Kill philosophy to commit to trying new ways of operating: using media to market animals, asking the public for help, working with rescue groups, and being open for adoptions at more convenient times. Organizations taking the "Just One Day" pledge receive a model press release, promotion plan, adoption posters, and other information free of charge.

In the first year, 800 shelters participated, resulting in about 9,000 adoptions. Organizations normally closed on Mondays opened, such as the shelter in Houston, Texas, where 231 animals were adopted. "In an Arizona shelter, 88 out of 100 dogs and 28 out of 30 cats were adopted by 11 am. In another community, they ran out of animals." And participants were having fun. The No Kill Advocacy Center considered the day a "watershed moment" as it was "the single, safest day for homeless animals in shelters this century, with the support, endorsement and embrace of traditional shelters all over the country. And the shelters participating did not shy away from embracing No Kill or the term."

In 2013, roughly 1200 shelters participated, with over 12,000 animals adopted. Escambia County, Florida had their best adoption day ever. One family drove three hours each way to adopt a dog from a participating shelter. In Chicago, multiple rescue organizations worked together on an adoption event. In San Antonio, Texas, the city's Animal Care Services offered reduced adoption fees, and partnered with other local shelters and rescue organizations who had agreed to transfer at least one pet into their care. In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, the shelter director declared the event a success: "To walk through both shelters and see a total of 76 empty cages renewed and reinvigorated my staff". At the same time, the No Kill Advocacy Center stated, "We erased more than one day’s worth of killing in the U.S."

In 2014, New York City's Animal Care and Control of NYC participated with extended adoption hours until 8 p.m., reduced adoption fees, and a Mobile Adoption Center set up with cats and dogs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Those efforts increased adoptions by 133% over a typical Wednesday. Jefferson Parish, Louisiana's animal control shelters had extended adoption hours to 7 p.m. and reduced adoption fees. In Houston, Texas, a donor paid for the first 25 adoptions of "PurrFurred pets", dogs and cats having stayed at the shelter for more than 20 days. The Humane Society of Warren County, Virginia, normally closed on Wednesdays, opened and extended its hours until 6 p.m., with adoption fees reduced to $11.

Henry Bergh Leadership Award

In December 2009, the organization began to issue Henry Bergh Leadership Awards to individuals making a difference to the no kill movement in the U.S. and internationally. Past recipients include:

Publications

The organization offers a number of publications on understanding the no kill philosophy, improving shelter operations, and model legislation. A number of online guides are offered as part of a "No Kill Advocate's Toolkit", including, for example: