Odessa's Animal Shelter ranks fourth highest kill rate in Texas
Jul. 26—KANAB, Utah Best — Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America's shelters in 2025, released new data indicating in 2023, less than 38% of animals entering the new Odessa Animal Shelter were saved. A combined 2,655 dogs and cats were unnecessarily killed because they found themselves temporarily homeless. Of 5,000 dogs and cats that entered Odessa Animal Shelter's care, only 1,900 made it out alive.
"Lifesaving transformation begins with collaboration, and cities like neighboring Midland have shown that being open to free local and national support saves more lives," said Sophia Proler, Regional Director, South Central, Best Friends Animal Society. "However, City of Odessa leadership continues to refuse free offers of assistance despite their community's desire to save more dogs and cats."
Inclusive adoption policies, pet retention services, and community cat programs are proven and effective ways to keep pets at home and out of the shelters. "In a poll conducted of Odessa voters in March of 2024, Odessa's citizens support trap, neuter, vaccinate, return (TNVR) over catching and killing outdoor cats by a measure of 6-1.
"Right now, seven out of ten cats entering Odessa's shelter don't make it out alive," said Proler. "A program for outdoor cats like trap, neuter, vaccinate, return (TNVR) will reduce the number of cats killed each year and control outdoor cat populations humanely."
While Odessa ranks fourth highest kill rate among Texas shelters and the state of Texas continues to lead the country in unnecessary deaths with nearly 82,700 dogs and cats killed in shelters across the state, many shelters throughout Texas are implementing foundational no-kill programming to keep pets safe in their communities. Similar in size to Odessa, cities like McAllen and Abilene are saving nearly nine out of ten animals entering their shelters through thoughtful leadership and community involvement.
Best Friends collaborates with municipal leadership and animal shelters, cities, and counties throughout Texas to increase lifesaving and make communities safer for cats and dogs. Best Friends provides grants, on-the-ground support, and peer-to-peer mentorships at no cost to any community partner.
No-kill means saving every dog or cat in a shelter who can be saved. The benchmark for no-kill is a 90% save rate. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters.
Nationally, 2.3 million dogs and cats were adopted in 2023. Best Friends data shows that pet adoption steadily declined over the last five years, while shelter intakes increased as more people acquired pets from breeders at pet stores. The net result is that 415,000 adoptable pets were unnecessarily killed in shelters last year.
"Roughly 7 million people in America are planning to acquire a pet this year, and if just 6 percent more people chose to adopt versus purchase their pets, we would end the killing of dogs and cats in our nation's shelters," said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society.
To inspire those looking to add a pet to their home by choosing the adoption option, Best Friends recently launched 'Bring Love Home' a national campaign built upon the foundation that pets belong at home not in shelters and to bring awareness to the dogs and cats still being killed in Odessa and Midland shelters simply because they don't have safe places to call home.
Individuals can help save lives by choosing to adopt from a shelter or rescue group instead of purchasing from a breeder or store. Even if someone isn't looking to add a new pet to their family, everyone can help end shelter killing by spaying or neutering their pets, fostering an adult cat, kitten, adult dog, or puppy, volunteering, donating, or advocating for proven lifesaving programming for pets.
About the Dataset
Since 2016 when Best Friends set a bold goal to take the country no-kill by 2025, we've undertaken a massive effort to collect information from every shelter across the country. That meant starting at ground-level because in 2016 no one even knew how many animal shelters there were in the country. Back then we collected data with volunteers doing records searches and calling shelters. In recent years, rather than working harder, we've learned to work smarter, and this year is the smartest yet.
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 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 and make the country no-kill in 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 415,000 last year. 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 4,700 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.
