“No-kill” is a measurable target, not a promise that no animal will ever be euthanized. Best Friends Animal Society defines it as a 90% save rate in a shelter or community. A City of Liberal, Kansas article posted September 30, 2025 reports that benchmark. It describes no-kill as a community commitment to save every dog and cat who can be saved. “Together” matters because shelters can’t reach that number alone.
What “no-kill” means
The City of Liberal’s article “Liberal Animal Shelter joins statewide adoption event” (posted September 30, 2025) attributes the benchmark to Best Friends Animal Society: a 90% save rate. The article frames it as a commitment, supported by the community, to save every dog and cat who can be saved.
Three things follow from that wording:
- It is a rate, not an absolute. The benchmark does not mean zero euthanasia. It leaves room for animals who can’t be saved.
- It covers dogs and cats entering shelters. Figures should be read with the geography and reporting period attached.
- It is a community goal. The shelter’s numbers depend on what the surrounding community does, such as adopting, fostering and cooperating with other shelters.
A worked example: Kansas
The same article gives a concrete picture. It cites Best Friends data showing Kansas shelters saved 85.8% of pets in 2024. It says the state needed 2,400 additional dog and cat adoptions to reach no-kill. These are Best Friends figures as relayed by the city. They describe 2024 and should not be read as current-year statistics. I haven’t checked them against the underlying dataset.
| Measure | Figure | Attribution |
|---|---|---|
| No-kill benchmark | 90% save rate | Best Friends, via City of Liberal, Sept. 30, 2025 |
| Kansas shelter pets saved, 2024 | 85.8% | Best Friends data, via City of Liberal |
| Added adoptions needed for Kansas to reach no-kill | 2,400 dogs and cats | Best Friends data, via City of Liberal |
The gap is a little over four percentage points. Framed as adoptions, it is a number a community can picture and act on.
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What working together looks like
The Liberal Animal Shelter joined a statewide adoption event alongside Best Friends and other Kansas shelters. Tara Logan, the shelter’s supervisor, said: “Every adoption brings us one step closer to ensuring that every healthy and treatable pet in our shelter gets the second chance they deserve. We’re excited to work alongside Best Friends Animal Society and other shelters across Kansas to help save more lives.”
Best Friends CEO Julie Castle said: “If more Kansans choose to adopt pets from shelters instead of purchasing from breeders or pet stores, we are confident that the state will achieve no-kill.”
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Two roles come out of this:
- Shelters coordinate with one another and with a larger organization, and hold shared events that draw attention to adoption.
- The public can choose to adopt from a shelter rather than buy from a breeder or pet store. Castle names that choice as the key to the state’s progress.
Where the Best Friends Network fits
Best Friends runs a free Best Friends Network for animal-welfare organizations. It offers resources, grants, dedicated support and connections for collaboration. Its resource directory lists an item titled “Together Towards a No-Kill Future: Thank You for Your Dedication.” The directory view doesn’t show that item’s text, so this article doesn’t claim to summarize it. The listing does show that the idea of shared effort sits at the center of how Best Friends supports shelters.
Reading no-kill claims carefully
- Look for the save rate, the place, the animals counted and the year together. A figure missing any of these is hard to compare.
- Don’t treat a 2024 state figure as today’s. Check for a newer release from the source.
- Remember that the Liberal article says two out of three U.S. shelters had reached the benchmark when it was written. That is a municipal article’s statement, not a separately dated dataset.
The Bottom Line
A no-kill future is built from many small, countable steps. Each adoption from a shelter moves a community closer to a 90% save rate. Kansas’s 2024 gap of 2,400 adoptions shows how reachable the goal can be when shelters and residents act together.
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