Adonis has been nothing but fun and is developing a sweet and multi-faceted personality. The little guy came home and hid for a grand total of 2 1/2 minutes. He's grown into quite the handsome young man and he's been getting BIG! He follows us around constantly and sits at our feet, loves to play and chase everything and carry his dollies around the house. He's a ham for the camera and has become a mama's boy, much to my boyfriend's dismay. Anyway, Adonis has been the light of our lives and we couldn't be happier.

What Does "No Kill / Open Admission" Mean?

To the best of our knowledge, the Tompkins County SPCA is America's first - and only - No Kill, Open Admission companion animal shelter. That means we never kill healthy, treatable animals and we never turn animals strayed or surrendered from within our service area of Tompkins County.

Quite a few shelters are No Kill, but not Open Admission; they reject hard to adopt animals that are older or perhaps less attractive by some arbitrary conventional criterion, or they shut their doors when they reach a certain capacity. It's often controversial, because many feel that when a shelter is No Kill but not Open Admission, they are passing the buck, sending animals to some municipal pound from which they're typically less likely to emerge alive.

That's why our determination to remain both Open Admission and No Kill distinguishes us as a national leader in animal protection.

Another reason No Kill can be controversial is because some associate it with the practice of "warehousing" animals, keeping them stacked in cages for long periods of time. This is not the case at the Tompkins County SPCA. Ever creative and resourceful, we find ways to tap the pet needs of a compassionate community and match all of our animals with the right adopters in due course. And while pets reside in the Dorothy and Roy Park Pet Adoption Center, they live in an environment as close to residential living as possible, not in cages. They enjoy a great measure of socializing, exercise, premium Science Diet foods, and the best medical care available. And thanks to our award-winning team of volunteer foster families, shelter capacity can be stretched by sending our animals to temporary homes until it's their turn to find their forever home.

No Kill, however, never means that a shelter never kills, least of all if it's bold enough to be Open Admission. But we only euthanize when it is in the best interests of the animal - as when animals suffer from untreatable medical conditions or severe and intractable behavioral issues. In other words, we euthanize only when it's the most humane course for the animal, never when it's the most expedient course for the shelter. Because of setting such a high standard, the Tompkins County SPCA can boast the highest save rate of any comparable shelter in the United States. Hovering in the mid-ninetieth percentile, we save roughly 19 of every 20 animals that come through our doors, making Tompkins County statistically the most humane place for cats and dogs in the nation.

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