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Our national initiatives focus on the animals most at risk—the ones likely to enter America’s shelter system: Cats, pitbull terriers and cast-offs from puppy mills. 

PITBULL TERRIER INITIATIVES

The vast majority of dogs killed in shelters are pitbull terriers. Best Friends is working throughout the country to help these dogs, who are battling everything from a media-driven bad reputation to legislation designed to bring about their extinction.

639

Pitbulls directly impacted by our programming in 2011

22

Number of dogs from Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation that were brought to our Sanctuary in 2008. We call them the Vicktory Dogs! Where are they now?

390K

Pitbulls potentially impacted by fighting Breed Discriminatory Legislation (BDL)

PUPPY MILL INITIATIVES

25% of shelter dogs are purebreds from puppy mills, bred solely to make money for their owners. They live in tiny, wire-bottomed cages, in squalid conditions, with little human contact and often no veterinary care. It is no life for man’s best friend. Learn more at Puppy Mill Initiatives.

714Dogs impacted by our puppy mill programming in 2011

31 and risingCities have enacted ordinances prohibiting the retail sale of dogs and/or cats in pet stores

CAT INITIATIVES

Ending the killing of homeless pets is not possible without strategic efforts to help both owned and community (feral or stray) cats. 

• 72% of cats who enter our nation’s animal shelters are killed.
• 80% of these cats are deemed feral.
• 2–5% of cats that enter shelters are reunited with their owners, compared to 30% of dogs.

15,290

Community cats were directly impacted by our programming in 2012.

FERAL FREEDOM—JACKSONVILLE, FL

Feral Freedom is a trap/neuter/return (TNR) program for “community cats”—free-roaming feral, stray and lost cats who live outside and don’t belong to anybody.

• 17,000 cats have been fixed since 2008 by Feral Freedom, a program supported by Best Friends.
• This program has helped reduce the number of animals killed in Jacksonville shelters by 66%.
• Best Friends has supported similar programs in other cities, such as Albuquerque and San Antonio, and achieved similar livesaving results.

Download the guide for more information on Feral Freedom.