You may have noticed that some shelters will say that they are a no-kill shelter. We have not verified whether or not this is actually true for any of the shelters listed in the Worldwide Shelter Directory. We do, however, warn people to not rely on this terminology unless they have personally verified it. This is our definition of the term "No-Kill Shelter" which we set as the standard quite a few years ago.
A true no-kill shelter must meet two criteria:
- they must never kill an animal, except for a humane reason, such as to end pain and suffering, and
- they must never allow the transfer of an animal from their facility to another facility that does euthanize animals for reasons other than those mentioned in #1.
To be a true no-kill shelter they must meet both #1 and #2. If they meet #1 but not #2, then they are not a true no-kill shelter.
That being said, this is not to say that all shelters should not be supported. The animals, after all, have no say in where they end up. But if it is important to you, please check the facts.
