06/13/2026
Shared from AZpound Pups - New Hope Rescue Only
20 dogs on the portal lost their lives this past 2 week. We know there are several that were killed without a chance....
The heartbreaking part? Some of them had people willing to help. Foster applications were submitted. People stepped up. But the dogs couldn't leave because there was no rescue partner available to pull them.
For those of us on the ground, this wasn't a surprise. When MCACC rolled out the new NHO guidelines, we saw the warning signs immediately. More requirements, less flexibility, less support, and significant consequences for partners who failed to comply.
The impact is already showing.
NHOs saved:
โข 1,650 dogs in 2023
โข 1,712 dogs in 2024
โข 1,716 dogs in 2025
We're nearly halfway through 2026 and aren't even on pace to reach 1,000.
From January 1 through June 8 of this year, NHO partners pulled 743 dogs. But that number deserves a closer look.
Of the 47 rescue partners that pulled dogs this year:
๐ 32 rescues combined pulled just 136 dogs total (1โ10 dogs each)
๐10 rescues pulled 208 dogs total (11โ49 dogs each), and 2 of those rescues are no longer partners
๐Just 5 rescues pulled 399 dogs (50โ112 dogs each), including the Humane Society, and one of those high-volume rescues is no longer a partner.
In other words, a small number of rescues are doing most of the lifesaving. When even one of those rescues leaves, the impact is enormous.
The public sees "743 dogs saved" and assumes the system is working. What they don't see is that 21% of those dogs were saved by just three rescues that are no longer NHO partners. They don't see the experienced rescue groups that spent years pulling the hardest dogs quietly disappear from the program.
This is not a community compassion problem. People want to foster. People want to help. Applications are coming in.
The problem is that willing fosters cannot reach dogs that need them when there aren't enough rescue partners ableโor willingโto pull.
Sadly, we may soon be forced to approach things very differently. Instead of trying to match dogs with willing fosters, we may be reduced to asking the one or two rescues doing most of the pulling which dogs they are willing and able to take, while knowing many others have no path out.
And that is the hardest reality of all.๐
If there are no rescue partners available, then many of these dogs are simply waiting in a kennel for days or weeks without a break and us knowing that they will be killed - we know no one is coming for them. We continue posting, networking, and hoping for a miracle, but hope is not a plan.
If fewer rescue partners are participating, fewer dogs are leaving alive, and more dogs are dying, then MCACC needs to explain how this policy is helping the animals it was meant to protect. ๐
