2025 data shows the sharpest drop in pets killed in U.S. shelters since 2020.
----
When Bossier City Animal Services, a Best Friends Network Partner in Louisiana, achieved their first full month of no-kill in August 2024, the shelter team made a public declaration that they were never going back. In 2025, they celebrated a full year of no-kill.
Shelter Superintendent Susan Stanford attributes the rise in lifesaving to being willing to try new things. One pilot program in particular was life-changing for dogs in the shelter like Scout.
Scout received care through the shelter’s new program that provides treatment for dogs with heartworms. Since it began in April 2025, the program has increased adoptions for dogs with heartworms by 54%, and Scout — who had been at the shelter for nearly two months — was one of them.
This pilot was just the beginning, opening doors for more shelter programs and more lives saved. “It gave the shelter staff the confidence and momentum to reach out and expand their ideas and see that even greater things were possible if we all just trusted the process, took a chance, and didn’t give up,” Susan says.
---
more...