NO-KILL PHILOSOPHY


The board of directors, staff and volunteers of Wish Bone Canine Rescue believe the following to be true: All healthy and treatable shelter and other at risk animals have the right to live. 
Only animals that are too sick, irremediably suffering or too injured to be rehabilitated, or animals that are too vicious with a poor prognosis for rehabilitation, and as such cannot be adopted into homes, should be euthanized. 
​The traditional model of animal sheltering must be replaced by a more compassionate, life-saving and proactive approach to animal sheltering known as the No Kill Equation.  We agree that the organization will:
Work toward and provide resources to promote, protect and advocate for the lives of lost and homeless companion animals; 
Strive to save as many unwanted, homeless and at risk dogs as we can care for safely.

We accomplish our life-saving by: 
Pulling dogs from animal control facilities and other high kill shelters (with the priority of, but not restricted to, saving local dogs). 
Accepting dogs into our care without discrimination by breed, health status or age.
Providing the veterinary, behavioral and nutritional care and treatment our dogs require regardless of cost or Spaying / neutering all dogs, but never knowingly spaying pregnant dogs. 
Using foster care primarily to house our dogs while using our building’s kennels for dogs that are harder to place in foster care. 
Placing our dogs into loving and responsible adoptive homes. ​We believe in each of these components of the No Kill Equation. Implemented together they will make Bloomington/Normal a no kill community:
A hardworking compassionate shelter director;
High- volume, low- and no-cost spay/ neuter services;
Foster care network for animals needing refuge before any sheltered animal is killed, unless the prognosis for rehabilitation of that animal is poor or grave;
Comprehensive adoption programs that operate during weekend and evening hours and include Medical and behavioral prevention and rehabilitation programs;
Pet retention programs to solve medical, environmental or behavioral problems in order to keep animals with their loving and responsible caregivers;
Pro-active redemptions – for owners to reclaim lost pets 
Trap, neuter, release programs for feral cats;
Rescue group partners/ access to shelter animals;
Volunteer programs to socialize animals, promote adoptions and help the operations of the shelter; 
Mandatory documentation before any animal is killed to demonstrate that all efforts to save the animal have been considered, including medical and behavioral rehabilitation, foster care, rescue  And finally, the end of the use of standard temperament testing- the kind which results in the killing of animals who are truly not vicious (e.g., shy/ timid/ frightened cats and dogs)