Our Lifesaving Numbers
Shelter Animals Count – 2021 Report
What does “no kill” mean?
At Heartland Animal Shelter, it means that each cat and dog under our care will be placed for adoption, even if they require medical or behavioral intervention or rehabilitation. We do not euthanize animals unless there is irremediable suffering, or in the rare event that a dog is too dangerous to rehabilitate and cannot be placed into the community safely and alternative placement options are unavailable.
What is Heartland’s save rate?
Since the shelter opened in 2002, we have been a no-kill organization. The national benchmark for save rate to be considered no-kill is 90%. Since 2007, we have saved at least 98% of the animals in our care each year, even with our increased focus on saving the most vulnerable populations of cats and dogs!
How is the save rate determined?
Shelters are able to choose the method they use to compute their save rate data which causes some inconsistencies in reporting. The Asilomar Accords permits shelters to remove some numbers from their live release data, including owner-requested euthanasia and animals that died or were lost in care. We do not consider those reports accurate.
We are firm supporters of a transparent “noses in, noses out” reporting approach. We believe that each cat and dog matters and we do not leave any animals out of our calculations, under any circumstance. We count each and every death and euthanasia in our numbers and even in doing so, we are proud to have achieved a 98% save rate in 2021.
2021 Live Release Rate = 98%
| SPECIES BY AGE | CANINE | FELINE | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | Up to 1 year | Adult | Up to 1 year | ||
| Beginning Animal Count (Date: 1/1/2021) | 20 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 62 |
| Live Intakes | |||||
| Stray / At Large | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 24 |
| Relinquished by Owner | 66 | 17 | 19 | 12 | 114 |
| Transferred in from Agency | 265 | 153 | 119 | 188 | 725 |
| Born in Care | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| TOTAL LIVE INTAKE | 331 | 184 | 139 | 223 | 877 |
| Outcomes | |||||
| Adoption | 310 | 160 | 150 | 197 | 817 |
| Returned to Owner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Transferred Out | 19 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| Returned to Field | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Subtotal: Live Outcomes | 329 | 162 | 150 | 198 | 839 |
| Died or Lost in Shelter Care | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Shelter Euthanasia | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| Subtotal: Outcomes | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 17 |
| TOTAL OUTCOMES | 333 | 165 | 155 | 203 | 856 |
| Ending Animal Count (Date: 12/31/2021) | 18 | 19 | 26 | 20 | 83 |
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