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Best Friends Animal Society

Adopting a pet from a shelter is a win-win-win, and the need is greater than ever

Best Friends

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Peach was just a kitten when Chris Henderson fell head over heels for her. He had recently moved from Scotland to Houston, and the whole city was under quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. Chris was waiting for his fiancé Emma's visa to come through so she could join him, and he was feeling a bit lonely. He thought perhaps a pet might help with that. When he found Peach on Best Friends Animal Society's website, he was struck by her.

"There was just something unusual about her coat, and she looked pretty adorable," Chris said.

Best Friends

A few days later, he met Peach at her foster home and the rest, as they say, is history. After he adopted her, he was grateful to have learned about the kitten's habits from her foster mom.

"Peach uses her voice a lot when she wants something," Chris said. "It would have worried me, as it was different to the cats I had growing up. But knowing that was just her nature really put my mind at ease."

Emma met Peach via video chat and was instantly smitten. Once Emma arrived in the U.S., the couple adopted another kitten from Best Friends—a little black and white sister for Peach named Lyra.

"Adopting her was the best decision I made during the pandemic by a large margin," Chris says.

Best Friends

Chris and Emma weren't the only ones who turned to pets for comfort and companionship when the pandemic hit. A record number of pets found temporary or forever homes in 2020. In fact, some animal shelters saw their kennels cleared out for the first time ever as people sought pets to keep them company.

However, pandemic pet adoptions have waned as people have started to come out of isolation and return to work. According to Best Friends, pet adoptions are down 3.7% overall this year. Meanwhile, the number of animals coming into shelters in June was up 5.9% compared to 2020. Despite rumors of hordes of people returning their "pandemic pets", the data doesn't actually show that trend; however, shelters are struggling with too many pets in need and not enough homes to help them.

Adding to the crisis, shelters are experiencing the same employee shortage affecting many industries nationwide. A survey of more than 150 shelters and animal organizations conducted by Best Friends found that 88% are short on staff, 57% have cut hours or programs due to short staffing, and 41% are down more than 25% of normal staff levels. This, of course, puts more stress on those who are still working in shelters.

"I've said it many times before, but now more than ever, we need the public to adopt or foster," says Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare organization dedicated to saving dogs and cats in shelters around the country and helping families to keep pets in homes.

"If you have been considering getting a new pet, now is the time. The public stepped up during the pandemic, and we need to do it again because countless animals' lives are at stake if this progress backslides."

Adopting or fostering from shelters genuinely does save lives. When animals outnumber people willing to take them in and the cost of caring for the animals outweighs available resources, animals unfortunately end up being euthanized. Thanks to advocates like Best Friends, the U.S. has gone from killing 17 million animals per year to about 347,000, which is great, but we need to remember that each one of those numbers is a life lost. Best Friends is dedicated to making the U.S. an entirely no-kill nation by 2025—an ambitious goal, but one that is within reach if more people choose pet adoption.

Best Friends

People who love animals but don't want to commit to lifelong care can foster, which frees up space in shelters, gives animals a temporary loving home until they are adopted, and helps get animals socialized with humans.

Fostering can also be a first step. Alix Walburn had only been a foster mom to a sweet dog named Giddy for about a week when she realized she didn't want anyone else to adopt her. Giddy had heartworm disease, and the plan was for Alix to foster her just during her course of medication. As it turned out, Giddy snuck right into Alix's heart with her cute face, loving eyes, and cuddly, playful personality.

"She will just curl up next to you, or put her little head on your lap," says Walburn. "No matter where you are, she just instantly melts into your hands."

Foster-Win! Heartworm positive dog gets adopted by amazing fosterwww.youtube.com

"Shelters, and the animals in them, need our help in a big way," Castle says. "Pets have been a part of our lives long before the pandemic, and we want to work with families to help them find their best friend while also saving a life."

Not everyone is in a position to adopt or foster animals, of course. But you can still help animals by donating or volunteering with your local shelter. You can also support the Best Friends mission of making the U.S. a no-kill nation by 2025 by checking out the Pet Lifesaving Dashboard to see where your community ranks. (Shelters with a 90% save rate are considered no-kill shelters, since some animals arrive at shelters too injured or sick to save. So far, just two states have achieved no-kill status, so there's work to be done.)

Adopting or fostering a pet from a shelter is a win-win-win choice—the animal gets a loving home, the shelter gets space freed up to help more animals, and you get a new friend to love and enjoy. If you've been thinking of adding a cat or dog or some other pet to your life, now is the time. Go to bestfriends.org to learn more about how to adopt or foster a pet.

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animal rescue

Tory Burch

Tory Burch Empowered Women

Empowered Women

This woman found out shelters in LA don't accept women with teen boys. So she made sure hers did.

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Judy Vaughan has spent most of her life helping other women, first as the director of House of Ruth, a safe haven for homeless families in East Los Angeles, and later as the Project Coordinator for Women for Guatemala, a solidarity organization committed to raising awareness about human rights abuses.

But in 1996, she decided to take things a step further. A house became available in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles and she was offered the opportunity to use it to help other women and children. So, in partnership with a group of 13 people who she knew from her years of activism, she decided to make it a transitional residence program for homeless women and their children. They called the program Alexandria House.

"I had learned from House of Ruth that families who are homeless are often isolated from the surrounding community," Judy says. "So we decided that as part of our mission, we would also be a neighborhood center and offer a number of resources and programs, including an after-school program and ESL classes."

She also decided that, unlike many other shelters in Los Angeles, she would accept mothers with their teenage boys.

"There are very few in Los Angeles [that do] due to what are considered liability issues," Judy explains. "Given the fact that there are (conservatively) 56,000 homeless people and only about 11,000 shelter beds on any one night, agencies can be selective on who they take."

Their Board of Directors had already determined that they should take families that would have difficulties finding a place. Some of these challenges include families with more than two children, immigrant families without legal documents, moms who are pregnant with other small children, families with a member who has a disability [and] families with service dogs.

"Being separated from your son or sons, especially in the early teen years, just adds to the stress that moms who are unhoused are already experiencing," Judy says.

"We were determined to offer women with teenage boys another choice."

Courtesy of Judy Vaughan

Alexandria House also doesn't kick boys out when they turn 18. For example, Judy says they currently have a mom with two daughters (21 and 2) and a son who just turned 18. The family had struggled to find a shelter that would take them all together, and once they found Alexandria House, they worried the boy would be kicked out on his 18th birthday. But, says Judy, "we were not going to ask him to leave because of his age."

Homelessness is a big issue in Los Angeles. "[It] is considered the homeless capital of the United States," Judy says. "The numbers have not changed significantly since 1984 when I was working at the House of Ruth." The COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded the problem. According to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), over 66,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area were experiencing homelessness in 2020, representing a rise of 12.7% compared with the year before.

Each woman who comes to Alexandria House has her own unique story, but some common reasons for ending up homeless include fleeing from a domestic violence or human trafficking situation, aging out of foster care and having no place to go, being priced out of an apartment, losing a job, or experiencing a family emergency with no 'cushion' to pay the rent.

"Homelessness is not a definition; it is a situation that a person finds themselves in, and in fact, it can happen to almost anyone. There are many practices and policies that make it almost impossible to break out of poverty and move out of homelessness."

And that's why Alexandria House exists: to help them move out of it. How long that takes depends on the woman, but according to Judy, families stay an average of 10 months. During that time, the women meet with support staff to identify needs and goals and put a plan of action in place.

A number of services are provided, including free childcare, programs and mentoring for school-age children, free mental health counseling, financial literacy classes and a savings program. They have also started Step Up Sisterhood LA, an entrepreneurial program to support women's dreams of starting their own businesses. "We serve as a support system for as long as a family would like," Judy says, even after they have moved on.

And so far, the program is a resounding success.

92 percent of the 200 families who stayed at Alexandria House have found financial stability and permanent housing — not becoming homeless again.

Since founding Alexandria House 25 years ago, Judy has never lost sight of her mission to join with others and create a vision of a more just society and community. That is why she is one of Tory Burch's Empowered Women this year — and the donation she receives as a nominee will go to Alexandria House and will help grow the new Start-up Sisterhood LA program.

"Alexandria House is such an important part of my life," says Judy. "It has been amazing to watch the children grow up and the moms recreate their lives for themselves and for their families. I have witnessed resiliency, courage, and heroic acts of generosity."

From Your Site Articles

Chris Evans posted this video of his dog and nothing on the internet will ever be better.

If somehow you haven't heard, April 11 is National Pet Day.

And that means it's the best time of the year. You're welcome (nay, encouraged) to share stories about your first canine companion or feline familiar. And where did your hamster come from, anyway? Are you always being told you share too many pictures of your guinea pigs online? (I am.)

Well, on National Pet Day, that's all forgiven and forgotten. Besides, if Facebook's gonna violate your privacy, you may as well inundate their servers with 27 nearly identical pictures of your cat stretching. Without further ado, here is my rabbit, Ms. Cleo, just chilling like it's her job. (Which it is.)

— (@)

And here are my guinea pigs, Buddy and Andy, being coaxed into a "Little Mermaid" themed photo shoot. (This image cost me four bell pepper slices).

— (@)

Lest you think this is just some elaborate ploy to post pictures of my animals on the internet (My editor said it was OK. Post yours in response. My DMs are open.), I have some unfortunate news: Nothing you share will be as awesome as what I'm about to show you.

Because this has all been a preamble to what may be the most heartwarming video of all time.

Captain America himself, aka actor Chris Evans, has posted a video of the first time he met his best friend Dodger.

Are you ready for this? Here's hoping you're a) sitting down and b) in a place that's not teeming with dust. Because there's about to be something in your eye.

— (@)

Evans met Dodger when he was shooting "Gifted." And as soon as they saw each other, they knew it was forever.

“One of the last scenes we were filming was in a pound, a kennel,” he told People. “I foolishly walked in and I thought, ‘Are these actor dogs or are these real up for adoption dogs?’ And sure enough they were, so I was walking up and down the aisles and saw this one dude and he didn’t belong there. I snagged him and he’s such a good dog."

"They aged him at about one, he acts like a puppy, he’s got the energy of a puppy, he’s just such a sweetheart, he’s such a good boy. He loves dogs, he loves kids, he’s full of love.”

I'm not crying, you're crying. (OK, fine, maybe I am crying.)

Of course, this isn't the first time Evans has shared his dog with the world. In fact, Dodger's a frequent presence on Evans' twitter.

Here he is singing:

— (@)

Here he is looking handsome:

— (@)

And here are some of Evans' and Dodger's glamour shots:

— (@)

The two can't bear to be apart.

Beyond the cuteness of the video, though, there's an important message: So many rescue animals need your love.

"Rescue dogs are the best dogs," Evans says in his post. And whether or not you share his opinion, the reality is there are lots of shelter pets looking for a loving forever home.

According to the ASPCA, roughly 6.5 million companion animals enter shelters each year. That number's declined steadily from 2011 (thanks to people like Evans), but there are still an estimated 3.3 million dogs and 3.2 million cats waiting for someone to love them. 3.2 million animals are adopted annually, but that number's got to grow. How could you say no to a face like Dodger's?

(The correct answer is that you can't.)

Rescuing an animal is also beneficial for you.

Let's get this out of the way: Adopting an animal isn't just good for the animal, it's good for everyone. According to the Humane Society of the United States, too many adoptable animals are euthanized in shelters because too few people think about adoption when they're looking for a pet.

And when you adopt an animal, you're not just saving its life, you're also fighting puppy mills — "factory-style breeding facilities" that usually focus more on the dollar, not an animal's welfare. By adopting, the Humane Society notes, "you can be certain you aren't giving them a dime." And taking an animal in makes room for others to be helped too. So you're saving more than just the life of your new best friend.

Plus, adoption's also good for your health. Studies show that people who own dogs and cats are happier (less stress), healthier (cat owners have been found to have a lower risk of heart problems), and may even have an easier time finding romance (you know, if the love of a good dog just isn't enough).

But don't just take my word for it. The response to Evans' post has been adorably explosive, with many sharing photos of their own rescued friends.

After Evans posted his video, thousands of people began sharing pictures of their pets too. Click here and get ready to say "Awww," because your day is about to get a whole lot better.

— (@)

Your day's better, right? It's better.

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Chris Evans is delightfully giddy about playing Buzz Lightyear - Upworthy ›

Why one woman decided to open up her home — and her car — to help homeless dogs.

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When Hurricane Sandy hit New York City in 2012, thousands of pets were displaced by the storm.

Local shelters and rescues, as well as nonprofits like the ASPCA and Humane Society, sprang into action to assist with search-and-rescue operations and to create temporary emergency shelters for pets found lost in the storm.

Some of these pets were happily reclaimed by their owners after the storm had passed, but others were still homeless, even months later.

When Nina Roadeler learned about the sheer number of dogs affected by the storm, she decided to become a foster for dogs from local dog rescues.

Nina and her dog, Toby. All photos via Nina Roadeler, used with permission.

It didn’t take long before volunteering with dog rescues became a huge part of her life.

In fact, after Nina took a job outside the city and bought a car, she became an adoption coordinator for Friends With Four Paws, a small foster-based rescue run entirely by volunteers in New York and Oklahoma.

All of the dogs rescued by Friends With Four Paws are pulled directly from high-kill shelters in Oklahoma. They spend some time with Oklahoma foster families while they are vaccinated, microchipped, and spayed/neutered. Then they go up for adoption and are driven by a volunteer over two days to New York and placed with new fosters while they await their forever homes.

That’s where Nina comes in.

Not only does she coordinate the transport of dogs from Oklahoma and interview potential adopters before they bring a dog home, but as one of only two volunteers with a car, she spends her weekends driving around New York’s five boroughs — and sometimes beyond — picking up and dropping off food, crates, and toy donations with foster families.

When she's not driving stuff, she's driving dogs to their new homes. In other words, she spends a lot of time as a "dog chauffeur."

Of course, no two dog passengers are alike.

The first one she ever drove, Peggy, was a scruffy 40-pound terrier with tons of energy.

“She was adorable, but she was all over my car,” says Nina, laughing. “She was bouncing around in that car like nobody’s business.”

Peggy, the first dog Nina ever drove in her car.

Some like to sit on a passenger's lap, while others prefer to curl up in a dog bed.

Some like to ride in style and look out the window.

And some can get a little car-sick.

Of course, all this driving also means a lot of time in bad traffic, especially when the drive is into Manhattan or New Jersey.

But for Nina, the minor inconveniences like bad traffic or messy dogs are worth it because giving back is so rewarding.

“When you drop off a dog at an adopter or you are there when the adopter meets the dog, you feel like you are Santa Claus because you bring them a gift — such a huge gift for the many years to come,” says Nina. “I know how I felt when I got my dog. ... He just makes me smile. And knowing that you are a part of really bringing life and love to a family is amazing.”

In fact, she says, she will never forget the experience she had of placing a dog with a woman whose fiance and her previousdog had passed away. “We found her the perfect dog,” Nina says. “And when you do this, [it’s] one of those cry moments.”

Moments like these remind Nina why she is so glad she started volunteering with Friends With Four Paws in the first place.

[rebelmouse-image 19527002 dam="1" original_size="750x427" caption="A group of fosters, volunteers, and adopters at a Friends With Four Paws "Transport Day,"greeting some of the dogs that have just arrived from Oklahoma." expand=1]A group of fosters, volunteers, and adopters at a Friends With Four Paws "Transport Day,"greeting some of the dogs that have just arrived from Oklahoma.

“I do love the people that I am [volunteering] with” she says. “We’re a very small rescue, and so it’s like [being] part of a family that tries to do the right thing and tries to do what they can to really make this world a better place.”

She adds: “So, you do this for dogs, you do this for humans. Rescue is my happy place.”

Put on your active citizen hat because the Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking public comments on a proposed rule.

First, a little background.

In October 2016, HUD published a final rule, "Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual's Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs."

It ensures people have equal access to HUD programs and shelters funded by HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) regardless of their gender identity. It's actually an expansion of a 2012 rule that provided equal access to shelters and programs regardless of sexual orientation.

Sounds good so far, right?

‌A person walking by an East Harlem public housing complex. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images. ‌

The rule is great but only if people — especially those seeking emergency shelter or resources — know it exists.

As part of the rule, HUD is proposing owners and operators of CPD-funded buildings, housing units, and shelters post this rule in public places in their facilities (like bulletin boards and in the lobby) where people can see it. HUD would provide the content of the notice and the owners would just have to print it out and post it. HUD estimates the task will take six minutes.

‌Just print and post. That's what HUD is suggesting. Photo by Newburyport Public Library/Flickr.‌

Here's where all of us come in. HUD is seeking public comment on four things:

1. Whether the printout is necessary and useful.

2. Whether the six-minute estimate is accurate.

3. How to improve the quality, usefulness, or clarity of the document.

4. How to minimize the burden on people required to print out the document.

If you believe it's a good idea for HUD shelters and housing units to post this information, you can submit your comments electronically or by mail until Feb. 23, 2017.

Think giving feedback on something like this is trivial and unnecessary? Ask the genderqueer teen living on the streets who needs a place to crash and doesn't know if they're welcome at a local emergency shelter. Ask the transgender woman who was worried she'd be denied access to a home-buying program.

It may seem small, but to the individuals and families looking for resources and reassurance, it's significant.

‌Homeless grandmother Valencia Terrell arrives with her grandchild to stay temporarily at a friend's home in Atlantic City in 2015. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images. ‌

More comments and feedback on the issues and proposed policies let the administration know we are paying attention.

This is only the first week of the new administration, and President Trump and his team have set several potentially devastating plans into motion. There's the unsanctioned gag order at the USDA, the devastating executive action prohibiting U.S. aid groups from funding NGOs that advise on or provide abortions, revival of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, not the mention the promise to begin moving on his border wall.

‌President Donald Trump signs one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry. Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images. ‌

You may not have the time or emotional energy to respond to every issue or proposal and that's OK.

With so much going on, it's easy to get discouraged and zone out. We have to persist. When we stop speaking up, reading, or getting involved, the administration's decisions go ignored and unchecked. There's just too much at stake to risk that.

Pick your issue: write a comment, make a call, attend a town hall, send a letter. Let Congress and Trump know you won't be silenced, bullied, or ignored. They work for us, and it's time they get a reminder.

‌People listen at a town hall meeting on Latin American and immigration policy in Los Angeles. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images. ‌

Get ready. Your active citizen hat is going to be on for a while.

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Quilty the shelter cat breaks other cats out of confinement - Upworthy ›

These are the looks of people on a mission.

When most of us hear "illegal immigration," there's not one face that comes to mind.

Because there isn't one. Most undocumented immigrants in the United States live in the shadows to avoid deportation. Many have to spend time in "drop houses" — shady locations crammed with undocumented immigrants as they are smuggled into the country.

Whenever there's a drop house bust and local media show up, those caught coming into the country illegally are usually quick to shield their faces from the cameras. Anonymity is key, which makes this photo series that much more intriguing.