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Date: 11/20/2023
LUDLOW — Animal Control recently received a letter and plaque from Best Friends Animal Society to be recognized as a no-kill shelter by achieving a 90% save rate for 2022.
Animal Control Officer Octavia Anderson said, “It felt good to be recognized for this and means we are slowly getting a grip on the stray animals running around here.”
Best Friends is a nonprofit organization that operates the nation’s largest sanctuary for homeless animals and provides adoption, spay/neuter and educational programs.
According to their website, in 1984 the founders of Best Friends made a promise to one another and to the animals already in their care that they would build an animal sanctuary in Southern Utah, where they could dedicate their lives to housing and finding homes for unwanted pets while advocating the importance of no kill.
In its first year, it became a flagship for the no-kill movement.
Current statistics from their website show that killing in U.S. shelters decreased from about 625,000 in 2019 to about 347,000 in 2020.
The national save rate is now 83%, and nearly half of the nation’s shelters are no-kill.
Their goal is to make every shelter and community no-kill by 2025.
Anderson said, “It is good that this organization is acknowledging shelters that are trying. It takes a lot of work. One stray dog or one stray cat can equal weeks and weeks of work in a shelter, so it is a good thing we have a good following that help either foster the animals or adopt them out.”
There are unfortunately plenty of stray animals that are recovered by animal control, but Anderson said she does her best to make sure the animals have the best outcome.
“I get to know these animals that we bring in and I try to make sure that they are adoptable. I am not saying we don’t put things to sleep but I really try not to. If they are injured or unfriendly, I can’t safely put them out for adoption or fostering but we have had a good success rate,” Anderson added.
When it comes to being recognized as a no-kill shelter, Anderson said that her numbers are based on taking in every animal unlike other shelters.
She said, “The term no-kill shelter can be misleading a lot. We are what I consider an open intake shelter where I don’t pick and choose. A lot of no-kill shelters have that luxury of being able to pick and choose so if the dog or the cat is not friendly or old or sick, they don’t take them in therefore their statistics look really good but we take everyone in.”
Animal Control recently created a new nonprofit called 4Friends of Ludlow Animal Control which will raise money for the immediate needs of the animals that end up in Anderson’s care along with support programs, dog training, veterinary services and educational programs for the community.
Anderson said, “They help take care of the money burden that is on the town of Ludlow for just housing these animals never mind the care and vet bills and everything else that goes into saving one of these animals.”
According to Anderson, an average veterinarian bill can start anywhere from $600.
“In the state of Massachusetts, you are suppose to hold a dog seven days for their owner to claim and after that we will have a discussion on what to do with them. We could easily be putting everyone to sleep but I just don’t believe in that. I am going to try everything I can before we get to that point,” Anderson said.