Hillsborough County took a huge step forward in the animal community a couple of weeks ago by moving toward making its animal shelter a no-kill zone.

Hillsborough County Animal Services has been trying to get its euthanasia number down. It has gone down from 30,000 in 2005 to 14,000 last year. What a great feat! Now, the county is trying for even fewer.

Now, there are always going to be some exceptions to the rule, such as very sick dogs that cannot be saved, but those things cannot be helped. 

Animal Services employees are being redirected in how to maintain operations while saving most animals from euthanasia.

Some of the steps that they are working on are:

• increasing adoptions, 
• working on a Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program for feral cats, and 
• communicating the importance of pet sterilizations.

This is a huge thing, and I hope that it will come to other nearby counties, too. A group called Save 90 has been advocating for these animals. Save 90 has its name because its members hope to save 90 percent of shelter animals from being euthanized. 

I want to bring this to everyone’s attention in hope that you, too, will get on board with this group, or inform the county of what a great idea it is.

In past columns, I have shared a couple of stories of animals who were going to be put down because of their looks or what they have been through. Luckily for those two dogs, they had someone looking out for them, but what about the other thousands?

We need more people to step up and be the voice for these babies who cannot speak. Let people know these animals are scared or just ill. Fight for these dogs that you know can be saved!

Please help by going to your local shelter or rescue to adopt! See animals for adoption at Hillsborough County Animal Services or Dogma Pet Rescue.