The number of dogs put down in Los Angeles city shelters is more than half of what it was three years ago, thanks to the “No Kill LA” campaign by Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) and a coalition of dog rescue organization.
Compared to the 2012-12 fiscal year, when a quarter of the 36,268 dogs entering Los Angeles city animal shelters were put down, only a projected 13 percent of the 30,582 expected to be taken in by city shelters will be put down.
In 2013, a broad coalition of animal rescue organizations created No Kill LA, which has set a target of having 100 percent no kill shelters in Los Angeles by 2017.
Initiated by the Best Friends Animal Society, the more than 90-member coalition has focused on adoption campaigns to reduce the population of animals in shelters. This has included mega-adoption events like the upcoming NKLA Adoption Weekend at the La Brea Tar Pits and the creation of a West Los Angeles pet adoption center seeking to make the adoption process more pleasant than it typically is in city shelters.
According to the LAAS, adoption rates appear to be leveling out. At the same time, the number of dogs being return to their owners is rising.
One bright spot in the statistics is that the number of dogs returned to their owners from an LAAS shelter is rising: