US non-profit organization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Based in Oakland, California, the No Kill Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization led by Nathan Winograd, dedicated to expanding no kill animal sheltering across the United States.
Formation | 2004 |
---|---|
Type | non-profit s. 501(c)(3) charity |
Focus | Advocacy to stop shelter killing |
Location | |
Key people | Nathan Winograd, Director |
Website | nokilladvocacycenter |
The No Kill Advocacy Center was founded in 2004 by Nathan Winograd, after he had "created the nation's first—and at the time, only—No Kill community" in Tompkins County, New York.[1] Rather than accepting the typical approach of the humane movement "that the best shelters can do for homeless animals is to adopt out some and kill the rest",[2] Winograd believed that a shelter could save "100 percent of healthy and treatable animals, and 100 percent of feral cats".[3]: 180 He took on the position of shelter director for the SPCA of Tompkins County in June 2011, and was able to stop killing immediately.[3]: 180 [4] He continued at the position for three years, solidifying the approach, and developing the No Kill Equation, a "roadmap to No Kill" that other organizations could follow.[4][5]
Winograd created the No Kill Advocacy Center to advise other organizations and expand no-kill animal sheltering across the United States.[1] At the start of 2012, thirty no kill communities had been identified; by the end of the year there were almost 90.[6] In 2013, hundreds of communities in the United States were reported as saving from 90% to 99% of impounded animals using the No Kill Equation model of sheltering.[1] A new community announced its No Kill status about every week.[6][7] Winograd stated that the successes of no kill communities "prove that there is a formula for lifesaving, and that if we are to achieve a No Kill nation, it is incumbent upon shelters nationwide to embrace the programs and services which have been proven to save lives".[8]
The "No Kill Equation" is 11 requirements that they consider essential to create communities that do not kill unwanted pets. They are:[9]
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The No Kill Advocacy Center held its first annual No Kill Conference in 2005, with Winograd as the only speaker,[10] and less than two dozen in attendance.[1] The 2012 conference had 33 speakers, including shelter directors with save rates as high as 98%.[10] Attendance jumped from 300 the previous year, to nearly 900.[6] Half of the attendees were from shelters, many of them municipal shelters which historically had "acrimony with the rescue and no kill community but were embracing it in droves in 2012."[6]
The 2013 conference, hosted jointly with the Animal Law Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., included participants from 44 states[11] and 10 countries.[10] Workshops included No Kill 101, Adopting Your Way Out of Killing, Shelter Medicine for Non-Veterinarians, and Using Technology to Save Lives.[12] Free admission was offered to directors of animal control agencies, with reduced admission for rescue groups and students.[12] A participant from No Kill Harford,[13] an organization dedicated to bringing the movement to Harford County, Maryland, described the conference as "an amazing opportunity to network with people who have actually succeeded at transforming their local open admission animal shelters from a place where the majority of animals are killed to a place where almost all are saved".[11]
In 2014, the organization produced a film, Redemption: The No Kill Revolution in America. The film won the Audience award in the San Pedro International Film Festival in San Pedro, California.[14]
In December 2009, the organization began to issue Henry Bergh Leadership Awards to individuals making a difference to the no kill movement in the U.S. and internationally. Past recipients include:
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