I’m not sure whether it’s the cute-dog youtubing or an improvement in general humanity, but something is making Australians euthanize a lot less dogs than they used to.

The number of dogs euthanized per year by the RSPCA¹ has dropped by over three quarters since the mid-90s.  Most of that drop happened in the last five years.

While 6,765 were put down in 2014-15, this is a huge drop from the 33 thousand the RSPCA averaged in the late 90s.  Even up to 2010 there were over 20 thousand dogs euthanized per year.

In rough terms, 70 less dogs are being put down per day, than 20 years ago.

Similarly, cat euthanizations have decreased by 60% over the same period, with almost all of this occurring since 2007.

Some of this drop can be attributed to more pets (particularly cats) being reclaimed or rehomed prior to having to be put down. Back in 1996, the RSPCA killed three out of every 4 cats it came into contact with. That rate has now dropped to 1 in 3.

If people keep adopting pets (and other great initiatives), hopefully this trend will continue!