Woman Shrinks An Animal Shelter's Kill Rate From 100% To Nothing

Nov 12, 2019

Cats and dogs have always been extended family members in society. How can you not love them? They’re cute, cuddly, and wait by the door for you to come home. They make great companions, and are sometimes easier to get along with than our peers.

While many pets are positively impacting families, some of our furry friends aren’t lucky enough to have a forever home.

For various reasons, numerous cats and dogs end up in animal shelters, and if they are not adopted, unfortunately, they are killed.

Shelters across America are underfunded, disabling them from housing these abandoned animals, but thanks to a Texan animal shelter employee, a facility was able to go from a 100% fatality rate to zero.

Kayla Denney, a Taft, Texas shelter worker, was miraculously able to successfully place over 500 animals in homes. “As of November 1, we have saved 565 dogs and cats out of Taft," she said to KZTV.

Because of her positive impact, Denney was recognized in San Diego, California. As the “Unsung Hero” Petco Award of 2019 recipient, beating out thousands of nominees, Denney was awarded $35,000 dollars - $10,000 for being in the top five nominees and an additional $25,000 for winning first place.

While most people may use their prize money to take a vacation, invest in property, or even splurge on clothing or a car, Denney used her winnings to renovate the Taft animal shelter.

Being an older animal shelter, there were numerous problems that needed to be fixed. In addition to technical issues, Denney wanted to create better interaction spaces for the animals and their potential owners.

“I want indoor-outdoor kennels with a guillotine in between so when it’s raining we can put them inside. We want an area where they can have a meet-and-greet out in the field and somewhere they can have grass time rather than just cement time," she said to KZTV.

The “Unsung Hero” award could mean great things for the Taft Animal Shelter. Hopefully Denney’s amazing efforts will inspire shelters everywhere to increase their cat and dog placement so less of our furry friends will lose their lives.

Does Kayla’s story inspire you? What can you do to improve the lives of animals in your town? Like this post and spread this heartfelt message to any fellow animal lovers.