SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah is on its way to becoming the second no-kill state in the country.

Best Friends Animal Society is celebrating two years of the No-Kill Utah initiative Sunday, and a new report says the save rate in the Beehive State has gone up seven points from last year to reach a total of 84.4 percent.

Best Friends Animal Society says that increase means about 48,000 dogs and cats were saved from euthanasia last year, and that is a continuation of the success they've seen since the initiative began.

“In 2013, right before the launch of the coalition, there were about 12,000 healthy and treatable animals killed in our state shelters, and last year we'd reduced that to just 3,300,” said Arlyn Bradshaw, Executive Director at Best Friends Animal Society in Utah.

The No-Kill Utah initiative has a goal to make Utah a no-kill state by 2019. New Hampshire is currently the only no-kill state in the U.S.

For more information about the No-Kill Utah initiative, click here.