To: North Carolina General Assembly
Give Them a Chance: End the Unnecessary Killing of Shelter Animals in North Carolina
To the North Carolina General Assembly:
35,559 dogs and cats were reported euthanized in North Carolina public animal shelters in 2025.
35,559 dogs and cats were reported euthanized in North Carolina public animal shelters in 2025.
Every healthy and treatable dog and cat entering a North Carolina animal shelter deserves a genuine chance to leave that shelter alive.
Yet animals in our state can still lose their lives because shelters are overcrowded, resources are limited, foster homes and rescue placements are unavailable, or simply because there is not enough space.
We believe North Carolina can do better.
We are calling on the North Carolina General Assembly to create and fund a statewide plan to end the euthanasia of healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats solely because of shelter space, capacity, or length of stay.
This is not a call to prohibit humane euthanasia when an animal is suffering with an untreatable medical condition or presents a serious, unmanageable danger to public safety.
It is a call to ensure that lack of space alone does not become a death sentence.
We ask North Carolina lawmakers to work with animal shelters, rescue organizations, veterinarians, animal-welfare experts, local governments, and advocates to pursue lifesaving policies that could include:
• Giving qualified rescue organizations a meaningful opportunity to transfer at-risk animals before euthanasia.
• Improving public notice and transparency when healthy or treatable animals are at risk of euthanasia.
• Expanding foster programs and shelter-to-rescue partnerships throughout North Carolina.
• Increasing access to affordable spay and neuter services to reduce shelter intake.
• Supporting programs that reunite lost pets with their families and help families keep pets rather than surrender them.
• Providing grants, veterinary resources, staffing support, and other assistance to overcrowded and under-resourced shelters, particularly in communities where resources are limited.
• Establishing transparent, consistent statewide reporting so North Carolinians can see where progress is being made and where additional help is needed.
• Creating a realistic statewide roadmap toward eliminating the euthanasia of healthy and treatable shelter animals for population-control purposes.
We recognize that many shelter employees and animal-control professionals are doing incredibly difficult work with limited resources. They are not the enemy.
This is about giving our shelters more tools, more options, more partnerships, and more resources so that euthanasia does not have to be the answer to overcrowding.
North Carolina has the opportunity to become a leader in lifesaving animal-welfare policy.
A dog’s life should not depend on whether a kennel happens to become available.
A cat’s life should not end simply because a shelter has run out of room.
And shelter workers should not be forced to make heartbreaking decisions that stronger community resources and better public policy could prevent.
We, the undersigned, ask the North Carolina General Assembly to work toward legislation that protects healthy and treatable shelter animals from unnecessary euthanasia and provides North Carolina’s shelters and communities with the resources necessary to save them.
Please help us build a North Carolina where every healthy and treatable shelter animal has a genuine chance to go home.
Sign this petition if you believe North Carolina can save more lives. Then share it with another North Carolinian who believes the same.
Why is this important?
Every day, dogs and cats enter North Carolina shelters through no fault of their own.
Some are lost. Some are abandoned. Some are surrendered when their families can no longer care for them. They arrive confused and frightened, waiting for someone to come looking for them or for a new family to give them a chance.
For too many, that chance never comes.
Healthy and treatable animals can lose their lives because shelters are overcrowded and there simply aren’t enough kennels, foster homes, rescue placements, resources, or adopters available.
Running out of space should not mean running out of time.
This issue is also not about blaming the people who work in our animal shelters. Many shelter employees, volunteers, rescue organizations, and animal-control professionals are doing heartbreaking work with limited resources. They need help too.
North Carolina can build a better system.
We can invest in affordable spay and neuter programs that reduce the number of animals entering shelters. We can expand fostering and rescue partnerships. We can make it easier to reunite lost pets with their families. We can give rescues an opportunity to save animals before their lives are ended. And we can provide struggling shelters with the resources they need to choose lifesaving options instead.
No-kill does not mean allowing an animal to suffer. Humane euthanasia will always have an important place when an animal is suffering with an irreparable medical condition or presents a serious, unmanageable safety risk.
This is about the animals who can be saved.
A healthy dog should not die because her kennel is needed tomorrow.
A treatable cat should not lose his life because a shelter is full.
An animal’s chance of surviving should not depend on which North Carolina county he or she happens to enter.
We can do better than that.
By signing this petition, you are asking North Carolina’s leaders to work with shelters, rescues, veterinarians, advocates, and communities to create a realistic statewide plan that gives every healthy and treatable shelter animal a genuine chance to leave alive.
They don’t need all of us to adopt them.
They need all of us to decide their lives are worth saving.
