Kansas City Animal Shelters in Crisis: PETA Launches Video Warning About Dangers of No-Kill Policies
For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2025
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
As Kansas City animal shelters become the latest in crisis, PETA’s new urgent video warning will make its national debut on 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.”
Earlier this year, a dog in Kansas City was found abandoned in a crate outside during a blizzard; in Las Vegas, three dogs were abandoned in the parking lot of an animal shelter after it refused to accept them—one was run over and injured so badly that he had to be euthanized; in Florida, a kitten who was rejected by a shelter was dumped in the facility’s parking lot, where a vehicle ran over him, crushing his skull (he died days later); and the list goes on.
“‘No-kill’ policies harm communities, leaving the most vulnerable animals with no place to go and good Samaritans with nowhere to bring homeless animals they try to help,” 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 leaving animals to suffer and endure slow, agonizing deaths on the streets, “no kill” policies are also a danger to the community. In Kansas City, a resident was killed by roaming dogs after the organization in charge of the local animal control system allegedly ignored repeated calls for assistance.
Pet Resource Center of Kansas City’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Melia Washington, recently echoed PETA’s concerns, pointing out that the only effective solution to the companion animal overpopulation crisis is to “stop making more animals”—which PETA notes 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.
