The Animal Rescue League of Berks County (ARL) has reached no-kill in 2024, according to Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. The milestone was celebrated on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, alongside staff members and local officials.
The ARL adopted a no-kill philosophy in 2018, pledging to no longer euthanize treatable or adoptable animals due to kennel space limitations. Since then, the ARL has undergone a transformative shift in operations, prioritizing lifesaving outcomes, transparency, and progressive animal sheltering practices.
“This recognition has been a long time coming,” said Ashley Mikulsky, Chief Executive Officer of the Animal Rescue League of Berks County. “Since transitioning to a no-kill operational model in 2018, every decision we’ve made—from how we manage intakes to how we invest in medical care and professional development—has been guided by our commitment to saving more lives.”
Best Friends, which has the most comprehensive and accurate national animal welfare statistics database in the industry, states that 2 out of 3 of shelters across the country were no-kill* in 2024, compared to just 22.4% in 2016. Shelters receiving the no-kill recognition award saved more than 90% of the dogs and cats in their care in calendar year 2024**.
“Best Friends Animal Society is honored to recognize ARL Berks County in achieving no-kill,” said Carolyn Fitzgerald, Senior Strategist at Best Friends Animal Society. “The leadership, staff, volunteers, and board members made this possible through hard work and collaboration. This partnership has helped strengthen lifesaving in the Berks County and Central Pennsylvania region.”
“To now be officially recognized by Best Friends Animal Society as a no-kill shelter is incredibly validating,” Mikulsky added. “It affirms the years of hard work, innovation, and compassion that our team, volunteers, and community have poured into building a lifesaving organization that sets a new standard of excellence in animal welfare.”
The ARL’s celebration event included remarks, acknowledgments of staff achievements, and recognition of key community support that made the accomplishment possible.
For more information about the ARL’s lifesaving programs or to support its mission, please visit berksarl.org.
*No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles. This means cooperation among animal shelters, animal rescue groups, government agencies, community members and other stakeholders, all committed to best practices and protocol.
**Criteria for receiving the award required that the organization operate a brick-and mortar shelter and that twelve consecutive months of 2024 data was available as of April 2025.
