Pack of Dogs Roaming Godley: PETA Launches Video Warning About Dangers of No-Kill Policies

For Immediate Release:
September 16, 2025

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Following reports that a pack of up to 40 dogs—many of them appearing hungry and sick—has been roaming the streets of Godley for months, causing residents to fear for their children’s safety, PETA’s new urgent video warning is hitting local airwaves, showing the deadly consequences of shelters chasing the “no-kill” label by refusing to take in animals in need. The gut-wrenching spot highlights a scenario that has become common across the U.S. as animals are being turned away from shelters and calls about stray, suffering, and dying animals are being deliberately ignored, all so shelters can be considered “no-kill” and boast of misleadingly high “live release rates.”   

The dogs roaming Godley, according to officials, have nowhere else to go, as the county’s shelters are “full.” Elsewhere in Texas, a shelter in Abilene with “no-kill” policies reportedly refused to accept a surrendered dog in June, and the animal was later found by state police tied up on the side of a road; in Houston, where the public shelter restricts the animals it accepts, a severely neglected and malnourished dog was thrown out of a car window by a woman who reportedly told police she couldn’t find a shelter to take the animal; and the list goes on.

“‘No-kill’ policies harm communities, leaving the most vulnerable animals suffering and abandoned on the streets,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “That’s why PETA urges animal shelters to accept all animals in need without fees, waitlists, or other barriers—and everyone can help by always getting their animals spayed or neutered.”

PETA points out that, in addition to endangering animals’ lives, “no kill” policies are also a danger to the community. In Lubbock, dogs who were rejected by a shelter later escaped their owner’s property and attacked and killed an 88-year-old woman.

The only way to end the companion animal overpopulation crisis is to stop breeding more animals, which starts with legislative restrictions on breeding and making spay and neuter services affordable and accessible to all.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.