RALEIGH, N.C. — A study released by the nonprofit animal welfare group Best Friends Animal Society shows that North Carolina has the third-highest kill rate for shelter animals in the entire United States in 2018.
According to Best Friends, North Carolina had a 67.9% “save rate,” meaning that 67.9% of all animals brought to shelters in the state in 2018 were either “successfully returned to their owners or provided with expert care and safe places to call home.”
The save rate for the entire country was 76.6% last year. According to the data, 5.3 million dogs and cats were brought to U.S. shelters and 4.1 million of them were saved, meaning that 733,000 cats and dogs were killed at shelters across the country in 2018.
According to the group, there are 39 no-kill communities in the state. There are 4,316 no-kill communities across the U.S.
Of the 246,000 animals that entered North Carolina shelters, 167,000 were saved and 55,900 were killed.
Only California (111,000) and Texas (114,000) killed more shelter animals than North Carolina.
Despite killing around twice as many animals, California (74.7%) and Texas (72.8%) still had a better save rate than our state.
Best Friends’ website has an interactive map that allows visitors to view the shelters in their community.
According to the map, Raleigh, which is not a full no-kill community, had an 83.4% save rate after 14,369 animals entered shelters and 11,981 were saved.
Among other communities in central North Carolina, Fayetteville had a 62.5% save rate, Cary had a 77% save rate, Durham had a 60.9% save rate, Chapel Hill had an 80.9% save rate and Goldsboro came in with a 62.1% save rate.
Wake County shelter officials have disputed Best Friends’ numbers, but have not yet provided any data.
To check out all the data from across the country or to see how your community is doing, click here.
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