Where corporations are concerned, the Covid-19 pandemic has propelled companies into an unanticipated, large-scale experiment. Digitized business processes, remote work policies, diversity and inclusion mandates, and newly created job roles have transformed how many companies envision their futures. Sadly, not every company has benefited (notably cash-strapped small businesses). But when it comes to animal welfare, Covid-19’s disruption has pushed organizations to do more with less.

No one celebrates a pandemic. But Covid-19 has introduced fresh approaches and processes across the animal sheltering and rescue worlds, from intaking animals to providing medical care to keeping pets in their homes to connecting fosters and adopters with animals. Innovation has streamlined once-clunky operations.

Moreover, Covid-19 has resuscitated conversations about the role of the community in animal rescue as well as the potential of technology to automate heretofore tedious, manual work. From telehealth to virtual meet-and-greets to the use of artificial intelligence to balance regional animal populations, the ability to find families for homeless pets has moved us even closer to No-Kill 2025.

The standard definition of “no-kill” means that an animal shelter is saving around 90 percent of the animals entering its care. If we meet that goal, we can all do the happy dance.

But our work won’t be finished.

There will still be homeless animals that need help. Despite today’s improvements, tomorrow’s challenges will require more disruptive changes, a willingness to upend traditional processes, and audacious leadership. The animal welfare world would do well to start planning for them now. Here are nine actions.

1. Embrace intervention programs.

You see them occasionally at shelters: people stationed at the shelter’s entrance, sitting at a table with a pile of business cards for a few low-cost veterinary clinics and free spay/neuter programs, and a glass jar for donations. They may not even be shelter employees. They are there to help prevent animals from entering the shelter.

Shelters are launching in-house Intervention programs (also known as “shelter diversion”) to help pets stay with their families. Many of these families can’t afford medical bills for sick or senior dogs. Others enter with litters of puppies and kittens, overwhelmed by the care responsibilities. Still others show up when they can’t afford veterinary euthanasia and believe the shelter is their only option.

Many of these pet owners are unaware of the resources available to them. Intervention programs help families obtain low-cost (or even free) services—such as spay and neuter, vaccine clinics, behavior counseling, or end-of-life services—that ensure that the pet never enters the shelter system. Many such programs also offer ongoing support services to those families, including finding temporary foster homes for families who are moving or otherwise in transition.

Not too long ago, these grassroots efforts were considered a headache for shelter managers. “I know they mean well, but they take up our parking spaces,” a shelter director confided to me a few years ago about one intervention group. Nowadays, shelters are launching in-house intervention programs, offering counseling, referrals, and onsite medical exams for pet owners who don’t know where to turn.

“We’ve been so encouraged that our vision is finally going mainstream,” says Phyllis Kuehn, founder and president of Captain Care, an all-volunteer intervention organization focused on the high-kill Carson shelter in southern California. “Keeping pets and people together has been a mantra of ours for years,” she says. “It’s gratifying to see the sheltering world finally acknowledging this as a systemic program.”

Another burgeoning movement is ensuring that pet guardians in military families, low-income areas, on tribal lands, or those struggling with homelessness receive attention and care. My Dog is My Home helps people and pets stay together by providing access to animal-friendly housing and social services. Gateway Pet Guardians introduced its own program to help low-income families. The shelter built a community coalition that provides counseling and supplies to families in need. “If we went and plucked up all those animals and put them in our shelters, we would be over-full and we would never be able to get out of this problem,” explained executive director Jamie Case.  

In animal welfare, “keeping pets with their families” is increasingly a core strategy. Intervention programs give families in need the resources to keep their pets at home and out of the shelter. With the help of these programs, families not only keep their pets, but they learn better ways to care for them. Shelters unable to fund their own intervention efforts are increasingly welcoming intervention organizations, offering them space, visibility on their websites, and staff assistance, thereby maintaining lower intakes and increasing goodwill.

2. Transform the shelter medical clinic.

I recently visited a local shelter to rescue an intact male Rottweiler we’d been networking. Despite my pleas, the shelter would not neuter him, citing Covid-related staff shortages and kitten season.

It was a legitimate excuse, as kittens and cats proliferate in shelters at a much faster rate than other animals. However, with no volunteers allowed in the shelter during the outbreak, the medical team was spending time bottle feeding kittens, fielding calls about injured animals, and answering emails.

The advent of telemedicine (and indeed digital technologies in general) has obviated many of the previously hands-on work that veterinary clinicians have historically performed. As we’ve discussed, shelter veterinarians can now perform “tele-triage” to assess animals prior to admitting them or refilling their prescriptions.

Telemedicine gaining traction allows brick-and-mortar shelter clinics to introduce new community-focused initiatives. These clinics can pivot away from standard treatment factories for in-house animals and pivot toward becoming community services, treating stray animals (and in the case of cats, returning them to the field), as well as providing services to low-income community members, foster families, and new adopters. Telemedicine frees up staff and volunteers to focus their time on vaccine clinics, formal TNR initiatives, pet crisis fund coalitions, and even in-home and field work, furthering the goal of keeping more pets with their families.

3. Improve community and volunteer relationships.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Most shelters have volunteers. So aren’t shelters already adept at embracing non-staff into their operations and discussions?

Volunteer attrition is high even at the most progressive shelters. Talk to any shelter volunteer and they’ll tell you that they love animals (most will repeat the well-worn trope that they prefer animals to people). But many also complain of not feeling included in shelter activities, not being clear on the shelter’s objectives, and being marginalized (or worse) by shelter management and staff.

Likewise, citizens and independent rescues wanting to help have a varying degree of influence with shelters. As the leader of an on-the-ground rescue who visits shelters weekly, I’ve watched volunteers be reprimanded by shelter staff for minor infringements, be surveilled by staff looking for policy breaches, or be watched to make sure they don’t walk the wrong dogs.

Recently, a volunteer at a crowded southern California shelter suggested that dogs with kennel cough be housed in the same building to avoid infecting the general population. Rather than the shelter noting her idea, she was put on probation. “We talk about how we’re unempowered,” she told me of her conversations with fellow volunteers. “But the truth is, we’ve been disempowered.”

Likewise, community members who might not want to directly volunteer but want to help find it difficult to engage shelters. People offering to start fundraising campaigns, organize blanket drives, start food banks, or launch “text-trees” for peer-to-peer notification of, say, new litters needing foster are routinely turned away by overwhelmed shelters without sufficient staff to oversee and support these offers.

Happily, forward thinking shelter leaders are changing this. They are appointing full-time volunteer and neighborhood outreach coordinators who are measured on volunteer performance and retention. They hold regular meetings with volunteers and neighbors, using virtual technologies and even incorporating contests or games to maximize participation.

Shelter directors routinely celebrate outsiders for their contributions. Pre-Covid, there were volunteer appreciation parties. During Covid, there are virtual volunteer cocktail hours. And while brownies in the break room are always nice, visionary shelter leaders are rewarding volunteers, providing regular training and professional development, with many offering first dibs on open job applications.

4. Prioritize senior, medical, and behavior dogs.

Before Covid-19, you could walk into most any shelter in southern California and see row after row of animals, many of them scheduled to die for space. During Covid-19, many of those kennels emptied, their residents fostered or adopted by people finding themselves at home and newly able to care for a homeless animal.

Despite the popular press (and some animal welfare groups) celebrating empty kennels, few shelters actually emptied all their cages. What was left? Large breed, senior, medical, and behavior dogs. And, even in these days of declining euthanasia rates, a dog having two or three of the above is often assumed to be a goner.

The plight of senior and medical dogs has only gotten worse during the pandemic. As small breed and young animals leave the shelters, senior and medical dogs—viewed by the general public as costing more money and requiring more time—linger and often die in shelters. As those of us who rescue and adopt these dogs know, they can often be the best companions (especially during a pandemic!). It is often left to rescue organizations—themselves cash-strapped—to save and care for these animals.

Behavior dogs are particularly at risk. A “behavior” animal could mean many things: A dog with a bite history. One who is declining in her kennel due to kennel stress. A dog who is completely unsocialized and afraid of humans. Or a dog with a prey drive who might go after other animals, including other dogs. Even a fearful dog who shows no sign of aggression but simply shakes in his kennel, eyes averted and tail tucked underneath, is often written off as a behavior case.

(There are behavior cats as well, but cat lovers seem to be more tolerant of feline behavior issues, many of which are considered mere nuisances.)

Behavior animals aren’t discussed as frequently in the animal welfare world, and shelters will often quietly kill dogs who enter their system with perceived aggression or resource guarding problems without ever promoting them to the public.

Indeed, the argument has been: Why keep behavior dogs around and let them take resources away from other more adoptable pets? But as those “more adoptable” pets get snapped up by an increasingly rescue-savvy public, behavior dogs will continue to represent an outsized portion of the shelter population.

People who save and rehabilitate behavior dogs are few. Liability and expertise issues prevent many determined but resource-strapped rescues from saving these dogs. As the relative percentage of behavior animals increases in shelters, more resources need to be dedicated to rehabilitating them, while educating the public about their potential.

Many behavior cases are, in reality, dogs who have come from unfortunate home environments and were never socialized. Many of these dogs are simply fearful and insecure. There are stories of these dogs taking a few days to calm down and feel safe, often for the first time in their lives.

Rescues that concentrate specifically on behavior dogs should receive more financial support, training assistance, and promotion from larger animal welfare organizations. Educational programs for dog-savvy adopters, as well as in-home acclimation help and ongoing remote support for adopters of behavior cases should become part of the evolving shelter’s service portfolio.

The community is also stepping up to support these dogs. Laura Vena, a community organizer and founder of Blockhead Brigade, oversees regular community pack walks where dogs can acclimate to being around other dogs and people in a safe environment. Pit bulls and behavior dogs are encouraged, many initially participating in pack walks, with some wearing muzzles for safety. Blockhead Brigade advocates for fair housing and keeping pets with their families, hosting online dog management workshops. All are welcome at these events in the interest of enriching dogs and supporting their humans.

Up until now, saving shelter animals has been a numbers game. This often relegates specialty organizations—those who focus on behavior, senior, and medical animals—as niche players not worth the attention and resources. But as increased community involvement ensures that young, healthy animals spend less time in shelters, the larger animal welfare community must embrace these smaller players, inviting them into their coalitions, providing financial support, and investing in specialized skills to push the “outlier” animals into the forefront.

5. Be deliberate—and careful—with breeding programs.

Shelter animal adoption rates are at an all-time high. Even adopters wanting puppies have choices (especially in the spring and summer months). The reality is there is a new prestige to adopting the family pet, with many people celebrating the decision to adopt as a personal success—and  rightly so.

So what about the breeders? Breeding dogs and cats is a controversial topic in animal welfare circles. Social media lights up with reports (mostly apocryphal) of shelters with empty kennels launching breeding programs.

But if left to chance, increased breeding of dogs, cats, and rabbits will resemble Covid-19 itself. The news that “infection rates are decreasing” had many states opening up public spaces, allowing citizens to mingle and infect each other to the point that Covid-19 rates hit record highs (again). Similarly, potential celebrations of a “no-kill nation” can be interpreted as a green light for breeders to produce new litters with abandon.

Animal welfare organizations should establish guiding principles for breeding programs, accompanied by a catalog of certified veterinary clinics and animal transport services, thus alleviating populations at crowded shelters and evolving—slowly and deliberately—toward breeding programs in good time.

There are no four words more dreaded in both epidemiology and in rescue as: Here we go again.

As shelter populations continue downward, animal welfare leaders should prioritize transport options, encouraging shelters that are full to send pets to shelters that are not. This type of “load balancing” is already occurring, with shelters using software tools to ensure that shelters in the northwest get Huskies from Los Angeles, and shelters in Montana and Idaho get small, fluffy dogs from Texas.

We yearn for the day when rumored animal shortages in shelters are balanced and widespread. When shelters, animal welfare groups, and academic institutions can begin creating policies for the timing, velocity, and type of breeding that suits a pet-loving public. Where pet matching services steer people to a specific pet based on survey responses (see HowIMetMyDog.com) or artificial intelligence.

Shelters with empty kennels might eventually choose to partner with breeders who agree to take in a pre-determined number of homeless pets that fit their preferred breed’s characteristics. Such a bi-directional approach, with breeders helping shelters, can empty even more shelter cages.

Of course, no one in the animal welfare movement should support formal, shelter-supported breeding programs until puppy mills and backyard breeders are in the rear view mirror. Illegal puppy mills still litter rural areas. Recent litigation in states like California are increasing awareness and decreasing availability of mill-produced animals, many of whom are, at best, misrepresented as purebred or, at worst, seriously ill or carrying communicable diseases.

In the meantime, continuing to cultivate the cachet of rescuing a shelter dog, or encouraging communities to trap, neuter, release, and adopt local cats can bring the numbers down even further. While breeding pets might well increase in the No-Kill future, the timing matters.

6. Up the marketing and branding game.

The discussions here on increasing community awareness all hinge on getting the word out. When people in animal welfare think of smart marketing, they typically think of advertising or social media. But digital, data-driven marketing has paid huge dividends in corporations, and it can do the same for animal welfare.

The success of Covid-driven improvements—including the previously mentioned adopt from home, community-based foster and rehoming, and virtual communications with adopters and volunteers—all depend on effective outreach. Likewise, the consolidation of disparate animal data enables a newfound sophistication of targeting these and other constituencies.

Imagine shelters and rescue organizations segmenting their fosters and adopters, allowing them to target people likely to temp-foster dogs, transport them to new homes, or search for lost pets. Imagine pushing timely invitations to adoption events to potential adopters living in that geographic area. Imagine designing fun marketing campaigns that embrace gamification and rewards programs to engage community members. Imagine those same community members asking their smart home devices about upcoming fundraisers or volunteering opportunities at shelters and rescues in their areas. Imagine those people asking about the availability of specific ways to help: “Alexa, list shelters within a 25-mile radius that need help with neonatal kittens.”

Smarter marketing extends past publicizing available animals. Promoting new shelter services, funding capital campaigns, expanding donor and volunteer outreach, and announcing strategic partnerships are all part of smart marketing. These and other programs are extensions of an animal welfare organization’s brand.

Data and digital technologies are foundational for community outreach. So, too, are graphic designers, marketing specialists, and data architects who are indispensable in making these visions a reality.

7. Engage the community in animal welfare legislation.

As public awareness of community-based programs evolves, improvements are inevitable. Amid that evolution, new laws are being considered that will fundamentally change animal welfare at its core. Unfair housing—mainly landlords imposing pet size and breed restrictions (if pets are allowed at all), and home insurers refusing to cover specific breeds of dogs—are receiving more consumer attention as Covid-related reasons force people to relocate.

Mandatory spay and neuter, prohibiting the chaining of domestic pets, TNR ordinances, anti-puppy mill legislation, and tighter breeding regulation are no longer the purview of animal welfare professionals and have officially entered the public debate.

Recent legislation in states like California (e.g., as of January 1, 2021, the state prohibits the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits) is being taken more seriously by lawmakers. States are also cracking down on puppy mills, inhumane farming practices, and roadside zoos. Large animal welfare groups are also assembling toolkits and offering legal help for renters, housing-insecure, and low-income families who want to keep their pets.

Lobbying at both the state and local levels on behalf of these and other advancements increasingly involves members of the (tax-paying) public, and lawmakers are listening. Just as neighbors can collaborate on reuniting lost pets with their families, they can also support and campaign on behalf of animal welfare legislation, ensuring a brighter future for all animals.

8. Enable small and specialty rescue groups.

In animal welfare, size matters. As their own facilities empty, large and well-funded charities like the ASPCA or the Humane Society of the United States should be the early adopters of some of the above programs. In an ideal world, they would then offer mentorship, skills, funding, internships, and grant money to smaller, cash-strapped shelters and rescues to encourage modernization, embrace emerging technologies, and offer staff training and upskilling.

As healthy, young animals get adopted at higher rates, those left behind usually have challenges. As senior, medical, and behavior animals discussed earlier can languish in shelters, they tend to develop other problems. Rescue groups who specialize in saving these animals and are overburdened with the cost of their care are also ironically those with the greatest funding challenges.

The goal isn’t to achieve parity between large and small welfare groups, but rather to put best practices into action at shelters across diverse geographies, budgets, constituencies, and focus areas. Animal shelters comprise a community and—as with neighbors helping neighbors keep their pets—those with significant resources should support those who urgently seek to expand their missions.

9. Modernize existing infrastructure.

This last item is the most basic, but might also be the most challenging. Downey shelter, a perpetually crowded shelter in a blue-collar southern California community, was built in 1946, at a time when the local population was only 70,000 people. (The population of Los Angeles county now tops 10 million.)

While the shelter has made efforts to modernize over the years, it is still functions more as a holding area, where the cries of animals reverberate through narrow, uninsulated buildings. The kennels are small and the ersatz play areas where animals go to meet adopters seem like an afterthought.  The phenomenon of long lines—as with our first shelter example, you still “take a number”—and wait times persists, demoralizing staff, volunteers, and visitors.

Many of the municipal shelters in the United States were built in the 1950s and 1960s. A large percentage of these have received only cosmetic upgrades since they were built. As communities rethink shelter design, academic institutions and architectural and design firms have reimagined shelters from cold, analog institutions to community resource centers.

Families visit these new, modern shelters not only to adopt or relinquish an animal, but to obtain low-cost veterinary services, attend behavioral seminars, and participate in adoption events that are less like death marches and more like street parties. Modernizing shelter spaces requires significant capital expenditure, for which municipal shelters must often compete with other, human-based proposals. But when shelters transform themselves into community centers, both humans and animals win.