A surge in lifesaving at Alabama animal shelter

Cheyenne, a 2-year-old shepherd pup, just wasn’t able to relax. Since arriving at City of Selma (Alabama) Animal Services, she exhibited behaviors, such as spinning in circles in her kennel, that told staff she was stressed. And to complicate matters, she had heartworms, and treatment for the condition would require her to stay calm.

When Best Friends employee Emily Lancione arrived in Selma last March, she began working alongside staff to help Cheyenne and the other pets at the shelter. She was there for a six-month embed assignment, part of Best Friends’ national shelter embed program made possible in part by a grant from Maddie’s Fund®. The program sends Best Friends employees like Emily to work alongside shelter staff and leadership to help them save more lives and reach no-kill.

During the six-month Best Friends embed project in Selma, the shelter’s save rate (the number of animals entering a shelter who leave alive) rose from 57% in March to 94% in August 2024. The 94% figure is even more remarkable when compared to the shelter’s save rate in August 2023, which was just 5%.

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Like so many small municipal animal shelters around the country, Selma is challenged by a limited budget that supports a three-person staff who care for the animals and provide animal services for the city. And while the challenges affect everyone connected with the shelter, the problem-solving lands squarely on the desk of Selma Mayor James Perkins, a strong advocate for the animals and for improvements at the shelter.

The city needed to save more animals, James says. “And until Best Friends came along, I really didn’t know how to fix the problem. When I read and found out about their goal (to bring the country to no-kill in 2025), it really got my attention.”

It was also clear to the mayor that Selma’s shelter needed to make changes to save more lives and get pets into homes. That included changes on the operational side: updating cleaning protocols, limiting the spread of disease, creating standard operating procedures, updating animal services policies, and making it easier for people to adopt animals.

“We also helped them reorganize space to create a different cat room and puppy room,” says Emily. “And we implemented new routines for regularly getting animals out of their kennels for exercise and enrichment. We helped them with social media and adoption events.”

In addition to operational changes, the shelter also needed a culture change with a passion for helping animals at the forefront, says the mayor. “It wasn’t about forcing staff to think differently about what we were doing,” James says. “It was about bringing in people who truly cared about what we were trying to accomplish.”

Emily concurs: “We worked with the staff every single day. They all genuinely care about the animals — which is probably the most important step.”

[New programs help save more dogs and cats in Nebraska]

Sometimes the smallest things cause the biggest changes. Emily remembers a key moment when one of the Selma staff members discovered how using playgroups — getting dogs out of their living areas to reduce stress and develop social skills — brought joy to both animals and humans alike.

“It was a powerful moment seeing him just pull up a chair and watch the animals playing outside,” she says. “He was happy to see the animals happy.”

James says he’s committed to doing everything possible to sustain lifesaving. That includes renovations to the shelter building that will make caring for the animals easier. A community cat program (to help save the lives of cats who live outdoors and prevent them from unnecessarily entering the shelter) is on the agenda for the coming year. But the challenge of a small budget is ongoing.

“The mayor carries a vision, but he doesn’t control the purse,” says James. “We have to convince folks that the things we are trying to accomplish are good for the community. That’s kind of where we are right now. We are getting a lot of public support, and that tends to equate into council votes (for more funding).”

Scott Giacoppo, Best Friends national director of shelter support, says the mayor’s persistence in implementing changes at the shelter was critical to the improved save rate. “Mayor Perkins is one of the most determined, dedicated mayors we’ve worked with anywhere,” Scott says. “His determination and courage making difficult decisions is impressive. And though our official embed period has ended, our staff is staying in contact, and we are always ready to lend a hand where needed.”

Cheyenne was one of the many pets who benefited from the changes at the Selma shelter. The team, including Emily, worked diligently to help her settle down. They made sure she had plenty of playtime outside of her kennel and provided her with toys and food puzzles in her kennel to keep her occupied and happy.

Cheyenne became a whole new, much more relaxed dog. At a free adoption event held at the shelter, she caught the eye of someone who took her home. And the icing on the cake? After treatment, she was free of heartworms.

“It was so great to see that dog — so stressed, so troubled early on — finally go to a home of her own,” says Emily. “She’s doing awesome, and rumor has it that she’s living the high life riding around town in her person’s convertible.”

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.