Recommended Free Tools
A rescue roadblock is a law, assumption or organizational habit that keeps an animal from a good outcome without good evidence that it protects anyone. Best Friends Animal Society uses the term to argue that shelters and rescues should examine the barriers they helped build, tailor decisions to individual animals and communities, and be willing to drop positions that once made sense. The examples below come mostly from Best Friends’ own accounts. They illustrate the approach; they are not controlled evaluations.
The test: does this rule protect animals, or just screen people out?
A workable way to sort rules is to ask of each one whether it protects animals, or whether it screens out suitable adopters or blocks a workable outcome. That framing is editorial, not a quotation, but it matches the thread running through Best Friends’ material. Best Friends’ Holly Sizemore, chief mission officer, put the mindset this way: “We need to honor the past for what it helped us accomplish in that moment in time and candidly face the fact that such ideas or processes are no longer serving us today.”
Vicki Kilmer, the organization’s director of business intelligence and strategy, adds the method: “We have evolved to become more data-driven and rely less on gut, intuition, anecdotes and ‘we’ve always done it like this’ thinking.”
Four roadblocks Best Friends points to
1. Labeling a whole group of dogs dangerous
Best Friends says it fought for the lives of 47 dogs seized from Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring in 2007. Ledy VanKavage, the organization’s senior legislative attorney, recalled: “Back then, 14 states deemed fight bust dogs as vicious or dangerous, and it was not uncommon for even some of the most influential humane organizations to support the killing of all fight bust dogs.” Best Friends says many of the dogs later became family pets. The history and the 14-state figure are VanKavage’s and Best Friends’ account of 2007, not a present-day count. The lesson is about blanket rules: a category-wide label replaced individual assessment.
#1 Best Overall
2. Keeping cats who do well outdoors out of the outdoors
Best Friends’ position is that cats doing well outdoors, with resources and caregivers, should be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and allowed to stay there rather than being pushed into homes they may not suit. It also describes Leopold, a cat who had been returned after attempts to place him in homes. He became the first official working cat moved from the sanctuary cattery to an outdoor home at its Horse Haven headquarters. One cat is an anecdote, but it shows the principle: the right outcome may not be the conventional one.
3. A service that works but can’t be sustained
Best Friends reports that its Mission Hills Kitten Care Program in Los Angeles has cared for more than 18,000 neonatal kittens and nursing mothers since opening in February 2013. The article says the program helped lift the Los Angeles shelter cat save rate from 36% in 2011 to 83% in 2019. These are organization-reported figures, and the article’s accessed page shows no publication date. They don’t prove the model would deliver the same results elsewhere.
Rank #2
The program also had a cost. Jennifer Pimentel, executive director of Best Friends Los Angeles, said: “It was not only expensive, the intensity of caring for so many fragile kittens was rapidly burning out staff and volunteers.” The organization shifted toward a found-kitten hotline that connects people who find kittens with public fosters, resources and coaching. Even a successful practice can become a roadblock if it depends on staff and volunteers burning out.
4. Adoption screening that rejects good homes
A Best Friends podcast page dated June 10, 2021 asks why so many barriers make adopting “so unreasonably difficult.” It lists age, renter status and an unfenced yard among reasons applicants can be turned down, and calls the process invasive and discouraging. It also reports that Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League’s open adoption process sends roughly 6,000 animals home each year with a return rate under 4 percent. That is one organization’s figure as reported by Best Friends. It is not an audited or causal comparison against restrictive policies, so treat it as encouraging rather than conclusive.
What removing barriers looks like in practice
Best Friends’ Length of Stay Manual (labeled August 16, 2022; writing and editing credited to October 2021) describes open adoption as removing barriers and creating a friendly, relaxed public experience. It says how to do it depends on the shelter’s needs, community and animals. The options it lists:
- Conversation-based adoptions in place of checklist approvals
- Promotions, marketing and fee waivers
- Individualized adopter support and counseling
- Post-adoption follow-up
- Convenient public hours, including evenings and weekends
- Staff trained to handle adoptions and reclaims
- Direct transfers to rescue groups after any applicable holds
- Strategic transport when populations run high
The manual cautions against relying on transport for most positive outcomes, since it may not be a comprehensive long-term solution.
A separate Best Friends article on post-COVID community engagement lists off-site adoption events, microchip clinics, public-facing adoption stories, employer outreach, social media, foster and volunteer recruitment, and revisiting application questions. It is undated on the page reviewed and reflects that period, so treat it as a menu of ideas, not a universal playbook.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare two approaches
When weighing an existing practice against an alternative, these axes follow from the practices above. They are an editorial synthesis, not a validated scoring tool.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Best Value
| Axis | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Fit for the animal | Does it respond to this animal, or apply a category rule? |
| Burden on adopters | Does each requirement screen out suitable homes, or protect the animal? |
| Staff and volunteer capacity | Can people sustain it without burnout? |
| Financial and operational sustainability | Can it continue at the scale needed? |
| Movement through care | Does it help animals leave shelter care at a healthy pace? |
| Community resources and partners | Are fosters, rescues and supporters available locally? |
| Monitoring | Can you track results and change course? |
What individuals and communities can do
- Foster, adopt, volunteer, or help with outreach and events where your local shelter needs them.
- If you find neonatal kittens, ask whether your local shelter or rescue offers a found-kitten hotline or fostering support before assuming they must come in.
- If an application seems to reject you for age, renting or fence status alone, ask whether the group offers a conversation-based process or will review your circumstances individually.
- If you work in a shelter, pick one policy, state what it is meant to prevent, check outcomes against it, and involve people with different perspectives in the review.
Limits of the evidence
The main article is by Liz Finch, Senior Writer at Best Friends Network. The account is an organizational perspective with examples, and no independent third-party study of these interventions was reviewed. Historical figures belong to the speakers and organization named, and none should be read as current national outcomes.
The Bottom Line
Keep rules that demonstrably protect animals. Question the ones that persist only because “we’ve always done it,” measure what changes when you adjust them, and match each decision to the animal and the community in front of you.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
