The phrase "animal shelter" was a misnomer until recent years. Dogs and cats picked up as strays or removed from overcrowded or abusive homes a generation ago were as likely to be killed as to be sheltered.

While 17 million homeless pets died in the nation's shelters 30 years ago, that number now has been reduced to about 4 million, according to data from the Utah-based Best Friends, a pioneer in the no-kill shelter movement aimed at ensuring shelters truly provide homeless pets with the care and rehabilitation they need to be placed in permanent homes.

In southeastern Connecticut, Pet Connections of Old Lyme is one group working to further reduce those numbers. It hopes to break ground on a no-kill shelter in its hometown in the spring and faces several local regulatory hurdles over the next months before construction can begin. The group has long worked toward this worthy goal and its efforts deserve support from Old Lyme officials and community members.

Pet Connections president Glynn McAraw says a shelter, proposed for Machnik Road property adjacent to the town's animal control facility, would augment the group's network of pet foster parents. Designed to accommodate a dozen dogs and 25 cats, the shelter would bolster the group's ability to effectively help more animals. A focus on cats is especially important as laws and local budget constraints often mean fewer homeless cats find permanent, loving homes.

In the nearly 25 years since its establishment, Pet Connections has found such homes for hundreds of homeless animals. It also has subsidized the cost of spaying and neutering pets for cash-strapped families and helped manage and reduce, through spaying and neutering, the numbers of cats living in feral colonies.

The group has proven its value by collaborating with many other rescue groups, veterinarians and municipal animal control officials. Its work extends well beyond Old Lyme's borders.

McAraw and other Pet Connections volunteers also don't see their work as ending once a homeless animal is re-homed. They frequently make follow-up calls to pet adopters, chatting, checking on the animal's progress, answering questions and generally helping pet owners troubleshoot challenges.

The Old Lyme Zoning Commission has already unanimously granted Pet Connections' application to allow an animal shelter as an accepted use in a light industrial zone - the zoning designation covering the Machnik Road parcel. On Monday night, the commission will debate and could decide whether to approve the proposed zoning regulation language defining what constitutes an animal shelter, a necessary step to complete the project.

Several more steps in the regulatory process will follow, but the prospect of establishing a no-kill shelter in Old Lyme is well worth the time and effort required.