Utah is in crisis.
Animal shelters across the state are at or over capacity. Last month, Weber County Animal Shelter issued a plea that they would need to start killing for space. None of this is necessary in a community with access to lifesaving resources and programs.
Strut Your Mutt, which my organization started 28 years ago, is a community dog walk with the goal of helping to save the lives of homeless pets in our community by offering individuals the opportunity to fundraise for their favorite local animal shelter or rescue group.
I was there for the first Strut Your Mutt in 1996. I’ve seen it grow into a national event that has helped raise funds for hundreds of shelter and rescue groups working to save more lives and become no-kill. This year we are going back to our roots by having an event on Oct. 21 here in Best Friends’ home state of Utah.
As we inch closer to 2025, and our collective goal of taking the state (and country) no-kill, I am both excited and anxious. According to our most recent data, 77% of Utah shelters are no-kill. No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter, which is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress.
Typically, the number of pets that are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. Shelters that meet the 90% save-rate benchmark are considered no-kill.
There are currently 60 shelters in Utah, and 47 of them have reached no-kill. However, there are 13 shelters in the state that haven’t reached no-kill, and participating in Strut Your Mutt can help these shelters reach no-kill.
We are almost there. I know Utah can reach no-kill by 2025 — but we need everyone’s help. No-kill can’t be achieved until the community gets involved. When a community supports its shelter’s critical needs, we begin to see dramatic results and will be on the right track to achieving no-kill.
Julie Castle
Julie Castle is the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society.