Kentucky ranked one of worst states for animal shelter deaths. There are ways to help
Kentucky was recently ranked the 10th worst state in the country for deaths within animal shelters last year, according to a report released June 21 by Best Friends Animal Society.
The Bluegrass State had an aggregate “save” rate of 84%, 6% below the necessary value to constitute a “no-kill” state under the organization’s methodology.
The nonprofit organization found Kentucky’s results are congruent with the animal shelter crisis in America, pushed by more intakes and fewer adoptions.
The report defines a state’s success with preventing pet shelter deaths by a “save rate” of 90%.
“A 90 percent save rate is the nationally recognized benchmark to be considered ‘no-kill,’ factoring that approximately 10 percent of pets who enter shelters have medical or behavioral circumstances that warrant humane euthanasia rather than killing for a lack of space,” according to a news release.
The report’s findings on Kentucky
According to the report, 98,394 dogs and cats entered Kentucky shelters in 2021 and 82,570 were saved, giving the state an aggregate save rate of 84%. In the same year, 48% of state shelters measured above the 90% benchmark.
The nonprofit’s findings are a product of data collected directly from shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites and federal Freedom of Information Act requests. The study involves coordinated outreach to every shelter in the nation followed by additional research, data analysis and technology development, according to a news release.
Shelters in the state below the benchmark needed to each save 7,471 more healthy or treatable animals to make Kentucky a no-kill state, where “every brick-and-mortar shelter serving and/or located within the state has a save rate of 90% or higher,” according Best Friends.
Cats made up 90% of shelter deaths in the state last year, an increase from 80% in 2020.
The majority of the cats were outdoor community animals residing in towns where there are barriers to trap, neuter, vaccinate and return (TNVR) programming.
Angela Rovetto, a senior strategist with the east region for Best Friends, said this data indicate there have been “great advances made in life saving for dogs.”
She said an opportunity for Kentucky to increase its save rate is to help community cats, who she described as not being traditional adoption candidates because they don’t want to be lap cats.
She said there are still shelter systems bringing cats in that don’t fit the only output model for a cat, which has traditionally been adoption.
“This is more a matter of just needing to have the systems adjust to having a different pathway to deal with these particular cats in a more reasonable and fiscally responsible way than what that old system was, which is just euthanizing because they’re not adoption candidates,” Rovetto said.
The organization said shelters in places like Ashland, Hardin County and Boyle County are locations where the practice has been “enacted with great success, reducing shelter cat deaths and providing increased public health protections.”
“If other counties dedicate resources towards updating how they respond to and manage community cats, including TNVR, we can prevent cats from being needlessly killed while humanely, affordably and effectively reducing the populations over time,” a statement in the news release reads.
The crisis within American animal shelters
Kentucky’s numbers reflect a national pattern of “overall lifesaving stalls” found through the nonprofit’s research, according to the release.
The organization cites Kentucky’s results as part of an “animal shelter crisis in America growing with increasing intakes and waning adoptions.”
“Unfortunately, the setback in lifesaving is largely due to the historic decreases in pets entering shelters in 2020,” said Julie Castle, the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. “As shelters began to reopen in 2021 in increasing numbers, so did the number of pets entering their facilities.”
The nonprofit found U.S. shelter systems are seeing the number of dogs and cats killed in U.S. shelters jump from 347,000 in 2020 to 355,000 in 2021, according to a news release.
“The reasons were partly due to staffing shortages that limited hours, decreased in-person volunteers, reduced adoption events and pet care support,” the release stated.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) lists “overcrowding, inadequate healthcare programs, inability to use tried and true methods of disease control and inadequate staff and volunteer training” as challenges affecting American shelters.
Additional issues include limited resources, the admission of species other than dogs and cats, high turnover and poorly designed facilities.
“Some of the biggest challenges are faced by open admission shelters that must accept all animals regardless of capacity to care for them, resulting in high turnover and population density problems not faced by other facilities that can limit admission, test for diseases, set quarantines and the like,” according to a statement on ASPCA’s website.
The Lexington Humane Society and the Humane Society Animal Shelter in Bowling Green did not immediately return calls for comment.
The pandemic’s effect on shelters
Rovetto said COVID-19 created a “drastic reduction” in the number of animals entering shelters in 2020.
“When COVID happened, there was a drastic reduction in animals going into shelters simply because we had to heed the human health concerns, and so shelters were closing for intake unless it was emergency, you know, injured animals or dangerous, just to be able to limit the human contact factor,” Rovetto said.
She said “there’s a lot of residual fallout from COVID that are really affecting people” and, in turn, shelters.
“There’s financial struggles, there’s housing struggles, there’s a lot of uncertainty, and what we know for sure is that when people struggle and when there’s hardships on people, shelters see that reflected in the amount of help that’s needed for pets,” Rovetto said.
All these things are “contributing greatly” to the rise of pet intakes in shelters nationwide, she noted. Additionally, these factors are contributing to “some of the slight reductions” in adoptions and fosters, which she said are also “critical” in helping shelters get animals out alive.
“There’s no playback on how to come back from a pandemic for any industry, and that includes animal welfare,” Rovetto said. “So, we know when we come together basically to say how can we help, what are the needs and listen and then do the best we can at trying to help in those ways, that’s what’s going to make for the best outcome, whatever that might play out to be.”
How you can help the crisis
Castle said “the responsibility of saving pets’ lives should not rest solely on shelters and those in animal welfare.” Instead, community members, government leaders and other animal welfare groups should take part in ending shelter deaths.
“Through collaboration and community involvement, this model provides better support for pet owners, efficiency in shelters and more lifesaving outcomes for pets,” Castle said. “When a community supports its shelter’s critical needs, we see dramatic results.”
Best Friends Animal Society recommends individuals help their state reach no-kill status by choosing to adopt from a shelter or rescue group, spay or neuter their pets, foster, volunteer, donate and advocate for increased access to low-cost spay and neuter programs and TNVR programming.
Rovetto emphasized adopting from shelters in a phone interview.
“The pets that are in the communities that are looking for homes, 9.5 out of 10 of them, there is nothing wrong with the pet,” Rovetto said. “It was a matter of not the right fit, lifestyle changes, things like that that are more on the human side.”
She said if you have adopted a pet from a shelter or an animal rescue and feel that caring for them is becoming a little challenging, consider re-homing that pet.
She said individuals should look into organizations and shelters to ask for guidance in these situations.
“There are so many wonderful resources now that as the pet owner you know that pet the best. It does not require a shelter to re-home a pet,” Rovetto said.
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