THE NO KILL MOVEMENT - FULL STEAM AHEAD!

By Nathan Winograd, Founder of the No Kill Advocacy Center
Photo by George Washington Law School

For over a century animal shelters in this country have argued that the killing of animals is unavoidable, and that the "irresponsible" American public is to blame. Without an alternative model to challenge the assumptions upon which these calculations were based, animal shelters, by default were granted a license to kill millions of animals a year while blaming others for the need to do so.

Sixteen years ago, Richard Avanzino, then-president of the San Francisco SPCA, showed us a different way when he created a compassionate, lifeaffirming alternative to traditional sheltering models. Although he himself never achieved No Kill, he was the first to end the killing of all healthy homeless dogs and cats in a city. And he left us a powerful legacy: the No Kill Equation- a series of programs and services to reduce birthrates, increase adoptions, and eliminate killing that is revolutionizing sheltering and bringing new hope and new life to dogs in shelters across the country. These programs include high-volume and low-cost neutering, comprehensive adoption programs including off-site venues, marketing and public relations, use of social media, proactive redemption efforts, medical and behavioral care and rehabilitation, working with volunteers and foster parents, and pet-retention efforts.

It was this model that I used and expanded upon in 2001, when I took over the Tompkins County SPCA in New York-the animal control authority for all ten towns and municipalities of the county-and created the nation's first No Kill community. For the first time in any community, all healthy and treatable dogs were saved, roughly 93% of them. It didn't matter if they were young or old, healthy or sick, injured, traumatized, or blind. All were found loving new homes. We had returned "euthanasia" to its dictionary definition, and we did it overnight.

Another community began to take notice, and within a couple of years, Charlottesville, Virginia became the second No Kill community in the U.S. under the leadership of Susanne Kogut. They, too, achieved it virtually overnight. But in too many communities, killing remained the norm.

In 2004, I left Tompkins County to found the No Kill Advocacy Center in order to promote the model nationwide and to replicate its success elsewhere. But shelter directors in the communities still killing healthy and treatable animals, and the heads of the large national organizations who rose from the ranks of these communities, were not interested.

So I decided to take my message straight to the average, animal-loving American; to tell the story they would not hear from those vested in the status quo; to give people the good news that we could end the killing today, not at some undefined, mythical time in the future as we have been erroneously led to believe. That is why I wrote Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America. I then went on the road to promote it.

As I stood before my first crowd outside Boston, I was filled with trepidation. How would animal lovers, activists, and rescue groups schooled in the belief that No Kill was impossible because of "pet overpopulation" respond to the news that in fact we could end the killing and we can do it today? In 2011, I now know the answer: enthusiastically. Today, we are a growing and vibrant movement, galloping at full sprint to our eventual achievement of a No Kill nation. As a result of the embrace of the No Kill Equation, we now have No Kill communities in California and New York, in Kansas and Indiana, in Kentucky and Virginia, and in other countries in the world: Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. And animal lovers across the U.S. are advocating and fighting for No Killing in their own communities.

The initial leaders like Richard Avanzino have given way to new names and new faces across the country who have taken over the reins of the No Kill movement and are carrying the message of hope and redemption within the No Kill philosophy with a fiery zeal that makes the gradualist approach of the previous generation look dated by comparison. The movement belongs to an impatient new generation with the vision, skills, and "can do" attitude who wants No Kill now and has the determination to achieve it. And in more and more communities, that is exactly what they have done.

Bonney Brown, director of the Nevada Humane Society, is one of those leaders. She took over a shelter in Reno, Nevada, in a community with high rates of unemployment, foreclosure, and shelter intakes-a community where traditional sheltering dogma would suggest No Kill was not possible. With a communitywide intake of nearly 16,000 dogs and cats a year, the odds were certainly not in her favor. But Brown is a tough-as-nails director who would not settle for failure. "Fundamentally every life is precious and we should not lightly take what we cannot restore.

Saving the lives of homeless pets is, quite simply, a moral obligation. We all know that doing the right thing is not always easy, but that does not lessen the moral obligation to do it." Like me and Kogut, she achieved success virtually overnight. In one year, she doubled adoptions and cut killing in half, saving 92% of all dogs in the county. Before she started, the shelter was adopting out 4,000 animals per year. Today, it is over 10,000.

Ryan Clinton, an attorney and No Kill advocate, came into the movement after reading about the success of Tompkins County. "I was a young associate at a large law firm, and our firm librarian handed me an article about a lawyer running the open-admission shelter in Tompkins County, New York. I had been struggling with traditional concepts of animal sheltering, but didn't know there was another way until that moment. That changed everything for me." He brought the message to his community in Austin, Texas and was dismissed as unrealistic. But Clinton was and is resolute: "It is indefensible to continue killing healthy and treatable animals in the face of lifesaving, cost-effective, humane alternatives."

Believing one does not need to run a shelter to make changes within a shelter, Clinton has led an insurgency that saw pro-No Kill candidates sweep to victory in the City Council and then unanimously pass a No Kill plan. Today, lifesaving is higher than it has ever been in its history, and Austin has a first-in-the-nation No Kill Equation law that forces the city shelter to save lives.

Jane Pierantozzi was drawn to the No Kill movement after seeing a terrified little dog mistreated in a shelter. It left her "shocked and heartbroken." "The animals are innocent and rely on us to care for and protect them," she says. Calling the system of killing "immoral and cruel," she vowed not to let them down. As head of Faithful Friends of Delaware, Pierantozzi spearheaded statewide shelter reform legislation that has the potential to put Delaware on the road to becoming the first No Kill state.

Valerie Hayes is fighting for the animals in her home state of Georgia. She helped usher a bill that put an end to the cruel gas chamber, and now she is using her talents as a writer and an activist to push for lifesaving measures to end killing altogether. Her resolve comes from her experience in being banished from the shelter for trying to save lives in Tompkins County before I got there. "Ten years ago, if someone had asked me what I was advocating for, I would have said that I was an advocate for treating people civilly, for treating animals kindly, and for telling the truth-the Golden Rule- nothing more, nothing less. I didn't know to call myself a No Kill advocate, and I had no idea that principles which are taught to young children the world over could be so controversial... [But] we met with success and there is no going back," Valerie says.

Mitch Schneider runs a municipal shelter in Washoe County, Nevada. A skeptic, he did not believe in the No Kill Equation, but he was willing to give it a try. Today, his agency has a 95% rate of lifesaving, with only hopelessly ill and injured and dangerous dogs losing their lives. He is happy to have been proved wrong. "No matter what any of us believes, we ultimately won't know if something will work unless we are willing to give it a try" Mitch explains.

Mike Fry runs the largest No Kill shelter in Minnesota and promotes the No Kill message on his weekly radio program, Animal Wise Radio. "I was driven to sheltering by a love of animals, which is also the same thing that would prevent me from taking their lives," he said. Not only does his show frequently highlight successful No Kill activists and programs, but he succeeded in making his hometown of Hastings, Minnesota into a No Kill community.

The growing success of the No Kill movement has not only saved millions of dogs at home, but it is saving them abroad, as leaders across the globe are recognizing the power of the No Kill Equation model of sheltering. Robyn Kippenberger is a former member of the New Zealand parliament who left politics to take over as the National Chief Executive of the Royal New Zealand SPCA. The RNZSPCA is the country's largest animal protection organization and the second most recognized charity in all of New Zealand. Under Robyn's leadership, the RNZSPCA has embarked on making New Zealand a No Kill nation.

"I was appalled that we were killing more animals than we were saving," recounts Kippenberger. Almost seven out of ten animals were losing their lives when she started her post. Under her leadership, some communities in New Zealand are now saving over 96% of all animals. "I believe in it because it works!"

Across the Tasman Sea in Australia, Michael Linke of the RSPCA in the Australian Capital Territory shares Kippenberger's enthusiasm. He heard all the excuses of why it couldn't be done and took over a shelter to do it himself. When he set a goal of saving every motherless puppy and kitten, for example, he succeeded right away, including bottle-feeding some of them himself. "It's not about your operational plan, or how many cages you have, or how big or small your budget is," he tells others. "It is about how you think, and a dedication to doing what is right. Once you overcome the historical inertia of your organization, the sky's the limit," Michael says.

They aren't recognized on the street, the paparazzi doesn't follow them around, and for most people, their names don't even ring a bell. But their impact can be felt all over the world. They are helping save lives at home and changing policies across oceans. Their fight, their passion, their commitment, and their hunger for No Kill are forcing shelters to abandon their antiquated policies and to embrace the No Kill Equation. In the process, they are helping lead our great dog-loving nation into one that practices what it preaches. We call dogs "man's best friend." People like Bett Sundermeyer, Micah Kellner, Kelly Jedlicki, Joan Schaffner, Ellen Jefferson, Doug Rae, Claire Davis, Karen Delise, Debi Day, and others are working to make sure we live up to that. And luckily for the pooches, they are succeeding.

For more information or to make a donation: Website: www.nokilladvocacycenter.org