Within the past 6 months the obstacles for the staff and volunteers of Philadelphia's Animal Care & Control Team (ACCT) have become difficult to overcome.  There has been and continues to be a turnover of the most vital staff, which is causing daily programs to be shared with other animal organizations in Philadelphia. Our country is moving towards a goal of no-kill status, meaning that 90% of the animals that enter a shelter exit the shelter healthy and alive. In 2017 there were 400 no-kill cities in the US, today there are over 4000. Philadelphia's ACCT's Live Release Rate (LRR) has climbed consistently during the past 10 years from a dismal 44% LRR in 2009, to 83% LRR in 2018, and 87% LRR during the first half of 2019. There are many ways to help achieve no-kill status, but the funding and management problems at ACCT need to be addressed now in order to create a more stable environment where this national goal can be achieved here in our city.

We feel that it is time for Philadelphia government to step up and help the Animal Care & Control Team become the exemplary operation that it is meant to be. As the 5th largest city in the United States, Philadelphia has a responsibility to be a model city while the very meaning of our name, the “City of Brotherly Love”, points us to that goal. One way we can demonstrate our love for our fellow residents & their families is to offer sincere and qualified services for our city’s animals which they see everyday. What better way to extend that love to our brother and sister animals than to offer them long and meaningful lives? Best Friends Animal Society reports that there are over 4300 no-kill communities in the US

https://bestfriends.org/2025-goal?fbclid=IwAR3XfoR9Ziy6s_vhFfHs8yp4f1hiiLqqkR7H96xeZSPChgo_aXenudhjJas

Yet, sadly, Philadelphia is not one of those cities. We were happy to learn that ACCT was recently visited by at least one City Council member, and hope that visits like it will happen more often. Walks through an animal shelter evoke a kaleidoscope of emotions that can never be felt through descriptions and photographs. When discussing no-kill we can choose to make it an elusive term difficult to define with varying time frames and criteria, or accept the most basic and fundamental definition which simply implies that we are doing everything possible to control our animal population while keeping them alive and healthy. Funding is important, but funding can be hollow. Grants, endowments and any type of financing should be motivated by experience. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first walking on the moon in the same month that thousands of unwanted animals were euthanized across America is just too incredible. We have the ability to control the animal population, and we are asking for the time, resources and funding to make it happen. We are asking that Philadelphia take the lead in making the United States of America a no-kill country by making Philadelphia and Philadelphia’s only open-intake shelter (ACCT) no-kill.