Advocate for IPAC

07/17/2026

In too many communities, rescuers are scrambling to help animals and to counter the false narrative of No Kill success after local municipal pounds close their doors to animals in need.

Under Human Animal Support Services (HASS) — euphemistically referred to as “community sheltering” or “managed intake” — municipal pounds stop taking in strays (and often owner surrenders), telling people to handle the animals themselves, turn them loose, or leave them on the sidewalk. This puts the onus on residents to do the job they already pay shelters to do through their tax dollars. It also puts animals in harm’s way and ignores their right to rescue.

Read why “community sheltering” and “managed intake” too often means “no entry” and the danger this poses to animals: nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit/give-me-shelter

07/17/2026

When we call for a No Kill nation, we are specifically referring to the promise and success of open-admission No Kill Equation sheltering: https://youtu.be/JCTt5JppNA8?si=RarWDDab_7XK4WKL .

We are NOT referring to the fundraising scam where “managed intake,” “community sheltering,” and “Human Animal Support Services” are euphemisms for “no entry” and where increases in placement rates are dependent on animals being dumped and left to suffer on the street: nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit/give-me-shelter.

If the goal of a No Kill nation is to truly mean something, we must stay rooted in reality: a placement rate cannot be considered ethical if it comes at the cost of abandoning the very animals shelter staff are responsible for protecting. These animals do not cease to exist simply because municipal shelters fail to count them. They are still suffering, still dying, and their lives still matter.

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07/17/2026

People are seeing more stray animals and rescuers, trying to do the job shelters are refusing to do, are not only more overwhelmed than they have been in years, but many are on the verge of financial collapse.

And so they reason backward and blame the irresponsible public, too many animals, and lack of spay/neuter, rather than the real culprit: there are more stray animals today not because of a population surge, but because inept, uncaring pound directors and lazy and unaccountable staff are turning away many animals and telling people who find them to leave them or abandon them to the streets.

Meanwhile, national organizations, like Best Friends, Austin Pets Alive, and those associated with them — including many former No Kill advocates — prop them up, legitimize them, and provide them political cover with euphemisms like “managed care,” “community sheltering,” and “Human Animal Support Services,” which in too many communities simply means “no entry.”

Someone has to do something, you think.

That someone is you.

Our free guide will show you how: nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit/no-kill-in-your-hometown

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07/17/2026

Our No Kill Toolkit is a collection of 31 free step-by-step guides covering political advocacy, litigation, legislation, media relations, shelter operations, and more: nokilladvocacycenter.org/the-toolkit.

The Toolkit is designed to help animal shelters end killing and, when they refuse to do it willingly, empower reformers to force them to do so

As The No Kill Advocacy Center adds more guides, we’d like to know what is still needed. As a rescuer, reformer, or shelter manager, what challenges are you facing that you would like a practical, step-by-step guide for? Are there topics, skills, campaigns, shelter practices, legal issues, public records, or other subjects that you need help with?

Please contact us through our website if you would like to offer suggestions: nokilladvocacycenter.org/contact-us. Your recommendations will help determine which guides are written next.

07/16/2026

This! If they aren't there for the Animals, they should leave and go do something else!

Another in a long line of studies finds that lack of enrichment in animal “shelters” directly degrades a dog’s mental and physical health. Conversely, by prioritizing regular enrichment programs, shelters can significantly mitigate chronic stress and cultivate sustainable, high-welfare environments for companion animals.

Study authors urged “shelter” leaders to adopt science-based management strategies. But that is not likely to happen as prior research shows that pound employees do not view health, hygiene, and enrichment as important. And given inconsistent, unenforced, and in many cases, non-existent regulations that mandate a commitment to dog welfare, what dogs need is not “successfully translating into evidence-based changes in industry practice.”

Given this disconnect between what dogs need and how many animal “shelters” are run, we need to stop pretending that managers and staff at poorly performing shelters are there because they love dogs and are passionate about doing what is best for them.
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07/14/2026

06/27/2026

REMINDER THAT PRIMARY VOTING IS TODAY, SATURDAY THE 27TH! Selecting our US Senate candidates for November 2026 Mid-Term election! IF YOU ARE REGISTERED, GET OUT AND VOTE! Then swing by the shelter to meet and adopt a new family member! Shelter is open for adoptions today from noon to 3pm.

06/25/2026

REMINDER THAT PRIMARY VOTING IS THIS SATURDAY THE 27TH! Selecting our Senate candidates for November 2026 Mid-Term election! Remember to ignore all the slogans, rhetoric, lies, and culture war Propaganda, and check their actual voting records on issues that matter to you! PS: If they are hurting the environment and the economy, they are hurting the animals! Sick people and people who cannot afford rent, food, gas or medical care for themselves, cannot afford pet food or vet care. Therefore, they do not keep their animals or adopt new pets. When people are dumping and no one is adopting, foster homes, rescues and shelters fill up, and animals die! Thus the current situation.
IF YOU ARE REGISTERED, GET OUT AND VOTE! AND PLEASE VOTE WISELY!