Oklahoma saw a significant decrease in the number of shelter animals euthanized in 2020. But according to Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization, Oklahoma came in eighth in Best Friends’ latest state-by-state ranking of pet shelter deaths, remaining unchanged from last year.

The Best Friends’ pet lifesaving dataset giving a national overview of the number of dogs and cats entering and exiting U.S. shelters each year showed that Oklahoma shelters took in 89,353 dogs and cats in 2020. Of those, 69,545 found positive outcomes, while 11,560 were killed. This equated to a save rate of 77.8 percent for Oklahoma, up from 73.1 percent in 2019. Currently, 38.7 percent of the 119 Oklahoma shelters are no-kill*. “While the latest numbers are definitely encouraging, Oklahoma’s shelter animal euthanasia rate is still needlessly high and our goal is to stem the tide,” said Kelly Burley, Common Bonds Director. “We are committed to improving connections between shelters, their municipalities, and their communities to lower shelter animal intake and increase live outcomes.” Common Bonds began working with Best Friends Animal Society and two dozen other local, state, and national animal welfare organizations in 2019 to help Oklahoma achieve no kill by 2025. The organization engages animal shelters around best practices, connects spay and neuter resources with needs, and shares community success in efforts to improve animal lives. In April of 2021, Best Friends began a partnership with Tulsa Animal Welfare, including embedding full-time staff dedicated to implementing best operating policies and practices. Tulsa Animal Welfare has one of the largest lifesaving gaps in the state and is committed to improving upon that number through the embed partnership, as well as sustaining the improvements once the partnership ends.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted this year’s data, as many shelters or services had to partially close or reduce services. Communities and individuals filled that gap through volunteering, fostering, and adopting. As a result, fewer pets entered shelters and more lives were saved. “This was a monumental year for cats and dogs in America’s shelters,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. “We saw communities, shelters, and individuals step up for animals in ways we couldn’t have imagined, and now we are closer than ever before to achieving our goal of no-kill by 2025.”

The top six states where pets need to be saved are Texas, California, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, which make up 50 percent of the dogs and cats still being killed in the nation. Although they continue to represent the largest lifesaving gaps, these states have seen significant progress in lifesaving over the past year. Nationally, about 347,000 cats and dogs were killed in America’s shelters in 2020, down from 625,000 in 2019. This is the largest yearly reduction in dogs and cats killed in the nation’s shelters (44.5 percent) to date, putting the nation at an 83 percent save rate. Best Friends has the most comprehensive national data on sheltered animals, representing an estimated 93 percent of all sheltered dogs and cats in the country. “Since we announced our no-kill goal the number of cats and dogs killed in shelters has decreased by 76 percent, down from about 1.5 million in 2016. This is incredible progress, but we must never lose sight that there are still over 950 cats and dogs killed every day just because they do not have a safe place to call home,” Castle said.

The data also shows that cats continue to be killed at a rate of more than two cats to one dog, even though intake of dogs is roughly five percent higher. Outdoor community cats make up the majority of cats killed in shelters. Community cat programs have created a notable reduction in the number of cats entering shelters and significant improvements in save rates.

*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. For the past six years, Best Friends has spearheaded a one-of-a-kind extensive data collection process that involved coordinated outreach to every shelter in America followed by additional research, data analysis, and technology development. The dataset is the most comprehensive on sheltered animals, based off data directly from shelters, state and local coalitions, government websites, and even FOIA requests. This year, Best Friends launched a new user experience for its pet lifesaving dashboard, which displays the data clearly and further inspires community members through highlighting the areas of greatest need to help homeless pets in their communities.

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 347,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs all across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 3,300 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.

About Common Bonds Common Bonds is a network of local, state, and national animal welfare organizations united to save more shelter animal lives. The collaboration encourages communities to commit to the 90 percent save rate and shelter data reporting in the Shelter Animals Count national database. More information is available at commonbondsok. org and on Facebook at @commonbondsok.