{"id":666,"date":"2026-02-05T17:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/?p=666"},"modified":"2026-02-07T07:26:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T11:26:18","slug":"petas-shelter-kill-rate-is-down-but-still-deadly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/2026\/02\/05\/petas-shelter-kill-rate-is-down-but-still-deadly\/","title":{"rendered":"PETA\u2019s Shelter Kill Rate Is Down But Still Deadly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) runs a facility in Norfolk, Virginia that it calls an animal shelter.  As with any other shelter operator in Virginia, PETA must submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) that reports on the fate of the animals that the shelter took in during the preceding year.  As we have reported over the years (e.g., here<\/a>, here <\/a>and here<\/a>), PETA\u2019s VDACS reports show that PETA euthanizes a substantial number of the dogs and cats that it takes in and does so at a rate that exceeds the rates of public and private shelters in Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETA\u2019s report for 2025 continues to show this trend.  Although the kill rate was down from 2024, PETA still euthanized nearly 60% of the dogs and cats that it took in.  The table and graph below show the PETA euthanasia rate for the period 2014 through 2025:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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PETA\u2019s kill rate still greatly exceeds the rate at which dogs, cats and animals in general are euthanized in public and private shelters in Virginia.  The following graph shows the results based on 2025 VDACS filings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The results in PETA\u2019s shelter also stand in stark contrast to the 2025 national euthanasia rate for shelters and rescues.  The Shelter Animals Count (SAC), a data collection program that was acquired by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, employs a machine learning model to analyze and interpret data from animal shelters across the United States.  SAC describes itself as \u201ca neutral, industry-wide data collection entity.\u201d  According to SAC,<\/a> in 2025, 5.8 million cats and dogs entered shelters and rescues across America<\/strong>.  Of that number, however, 597,000 \u2013 or about 10%<\/strong> — were euthanized.  Thus, PETA\u2019s kill rate, even though modestly down in 2025, was still nearly six times more than the national average<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETA\u2019s VDACS filing goes on at length about its sterilization services, free dog houses and bedding and so forth, but it doesn\u2019t address the fact that its euthanasia rate vastly exceeds that of other Virginia shelters, including public shelters, many of which are open admission.  As we have observed before, if all of the dogs and cats that PETA puts down are fatally ill or unadoptable, it would be a simple matter for PETA to say so.  The response?  Crickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) runs a facility in Norfolk, Virginia that it calls an animal shelter.  As with any other shelter operator in Virginia, PETA must submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) that reports on the fate of the animals … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “PETA\u2019s Shelter Kill Rate Is Down But Still Deadly”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[686,49,21,683,5,101,45,1103,303,302],"ppma_author":[697],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-open-admission-animal-shelters","tag-animal-law","tag-animal-rights","tag-euthanasia","tag-john-simpson","tag-people-for-the-ethical-treatment-of-animals","tag-peta","tag-shelter-animals-count","tag-vdacs","tag-virginia-department-of-agriculture-and-consumer-services"],"authors":[{"term_id":697,"user_id":317,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jmsimpson","display_name":"John M. Simpson","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2018\/06\/simpsonjohn-125x150.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}