animal no-kill shelters

I've been meaning to ask this for a long time,now about the no-kill shelters. When these rescue groups go out to the pounds & Humane societies, what is their criteria for picking animals? I know they pick the ones that are on the euthanasia list, but how do they decide? It must be heart-wrenching, I'd think considered thousands of animals are being put to sleep every day. On another note, isn't the euthanasia rate going down because of the no-kill shelters?

The vast majority of the ones that go into shelters are looking for a particluar breed. As such, it's mostly dog rescue groups that do this. Also, it's seldom a group that actually has a shelter that does this - it's usually a fostering group.

As far as the no-kill shelter groups, they usually severely limit the number and type of animal they will take because their funds and facilities are so limited. The animal usually must be young, healthy, and without behavior problems so as to assure they will adopted, and adopted quickly. They also will frequently ask for a donation, and the pressure applied to the request for this donation may vary.

The no-kill groups serve a great purpose in that adoptable animals have a chance. In kill shelters, they usually don't.

I had a no-kill shelter I used several times. When I got an animal it was $65 including spay / neuter, $45 if it was already fixed. The one time I dropped off, there was a waiting list (but I had time, I knew I was moving months in advance) and it cost $45 to drop off. My cat got adopted within a week, which sounds expensive at $90 ($45 each from me and the new owner), but there are so many animals who lived there way past the time their fees ran out, I don't really mind subsidising them. But as far as I know, they didn't go to other shelters and rescue animals, they had enough drop-offs to fill their spaces. And except for the greyhounds, they didn't seem to be looking for breeds of any particular kind. At least, most of the animals I saw looked very mixed.