Crossing the NKLA finish line
In this lifesaving marathon, the end is also just the beginning
In this lifesaving marathon, the end is also just the beginning
The crowning moment of 2020 — declaring Los Angeles a no-kill city — isn’t a one-off. Rather, the NKLA finish line doubles as a starter’s block, and the race to save lives continues.
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here’s a reason that the marathon is used so frequently as an analogy for life’s most grueling and ultimately triumphant journeys. After all, what more readily embodies a hard-won victory than the preparation, perseverance and never-give-up attitude required to conquer those legendary 26.2 miles? Whether you’re a spectator or a participant, hidden within the marathon’s moments are some of our greatest lessons.
In 2020, Best Friends and the 150-plus members of the NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles) Coalition crossed a doozy of a finish line when, together, we reached what seemed an almost impossible goal a decade before. We celebrated a save rate of 90.49% for the animals — taking this country’s second largest city to no-kill status for the year.
Of course, this milestone was worth its share of high-fives. Yet, in many ways (heck, in all ways, really) the hard work isn’t over. When it comes to no-kill, a community closing out the year with a 90% save rate is only the beginning. Put simply, the crowning moment of 2020 — declaring Los Angeles a no-kill city — isn’t a one-off. Rather, the NKLA finish line doubles as a starter’s block, and the race to save lives continues.
Why 90%?
Let’s take a look at what we mean by “save rate” and why reaching 90% is the nationally recognized benchmark. Save rate is the term used for the percentage of pets who enter the shelter system (noses in) and leave alive (noses out). A 90% save rate for the animals entering shelters is the common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress.
Typically, the number of pets who 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 pets entering shelters.
In 2011, Los Angeles Animal
Services (LAAS) took in about
56,000 animals and the save rate was less than 60%. Approximately 18,000 cats and dogs were killed because they didn’t have a safe place to call home. With the appointment of Brenda Barnette as the new LAAS general manager in 2010, however, Best Friends had recognized an ally — one committed to leading a citywide coalition of animal welfare organizations — to help change course. We believed (and still do) that if we could reach no-kill in Los Angeles, we could reach it anywhere.
Additional allies appeared from unlikely yet welcome places. When branding powerhouse TBWA\Chiat\Day (the brains behind some of the world’s most effective marketing campaigns, for companies like Apple and Nike) offered its genius, pro bono, we knew our messaging was in capable hands. The ensuing NKLA creative featured oversized black-and-white images of homeless pets while the prominent NKLA logo introduced Angelenos to the cause. In the days before the initiative launched, the city was blanketed in strategically placed billboards. And after 18 months of planning, on April 16, 2012, the NKLA initiative was officially underway, with an ambitious goal to hit our target by 2017.
Before NKLA Coalition members could thrive as a unified lifesaving machine, the first order of business was to agree to get