Best Friends and ASPCA to subsidize shelter fees for rescues in Los Angeles

In an effort to save more lives in Los Angeles animal shelters this holiday season, Best Friends Animal Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA) are joining forces.

Best Friends has pledged $50,000 and the ASPCA has allocated another $70,000, which will subsidize $120,000 of the costs incurred by rescues associated with pulling animals from L.A.'s public shelters, such as vaccinations, microchipping, and spay/neuter surgeries. The ASPCA will pay fees for L.A. Animal Services' New Hope Partners, qualified 501(c)(3) organizations that meet a basic set of standards set by City of Los Angeles Animal Services. Best Friends will pay fees for those New Hope Partners that are also No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA) Coalition partners. In turn, these rescue groups will be able to pull more animals from the public shelters and use their budget dollars to provide for the animals in their care.

"We couldn't be more delighted to team up with the ASPCA to help the animals of Los Angeles from now through the holidays," says Francis Battista, co-founder of Best Friends Animal Society. "We look forward to partnering with the 'A' on this and other lifesaving projects."

Animal rescue groups and public animal shelters collaborate

Every year, more than 4 million individual dogs and cats are killed in America's shelters. simply because they don't have a safe place to call home. Only by working together will we be able to end that.

"Working with Best Friends Animal Society on this initiative allows local rescues and the public shelters to work together toward the common goal of getting animals out of cages and into loving homes," says Jill Buckley, senior director of community initiatives at the ASPCA. "Relieving the local rescues' fees affords them the ability to ease the burden on the overcrowded municipal shelters, which is truly a win-win for everyone involved."

Saving more dogs and cats

Though the save rate for cats is lower, roughly 82 percent of the dogs in L.A. city shelters are already being saved. It is hoped that the combined contribution to offset rescue costs will increase the live release rate for both cats and dogs.

Lesley Brog, founder of Wags and Walks, a Los Angeles-based NKLA Coalition partner that showcases adoptable dogs at the NKLA Pet Adoption Center, sees a direct correlation between the covered fees and the number of animals saved.

"The donations from the ASPCA and Best Friends mean we'll have more funds to use toward vet care, boarding or training, which increases the amount of dogs we'll be able to save," Lesley says. "Best Friends and the ASPCA are demonstrating how much they care about animals by providing support to other organizations  ̶  a true example of how working together gets dogs out of shelters and into great homes. This is a real blessing for us and gives us an extra sense of security that we can save more dogs."

Together we will Save Them All.

Learn more about Best Friends in Los Angeles.

Photo by Best Friends staff