“When increasingly more animals are coming into the shelters than leaving, euthanasia becomes a real threat for animals who are struggling in the shelter environment,” said a Monday morning news release from LifeLine, which also provides animal services in Fulton.
Shelters in both counties have struggled with chronic overcrowding in recent years.
LifeLine operates the shelters in Fulton and DeKalb as “no-kill” facilities, meaning animals are not routinely euthanized for space. Generally, only animals that are severely ill, deemed dangerous or otherwise unfit for adoption are euthanized — typically less than 10% of those brought in.
But several times in the last year, LifeLine has put out an urgent call for adoptions, saying its shelters were so overcrowded that they would soon have to begin euthanizing animals just to have room for new ones.
Monday’s release stopped short of that, but did put out an urgent call for adoptions.
“We are waiving all reclaim fees for pets who end up in our shelters for the first time, and we’re also asking neighbors to help more lost pets get back home with a few simple steps,” LifeLine founder and CEO Rebecca Guinn said in the announcement.
LifeLine, which said in the release that it never turns away animals, regularly holds free or low-cost animal adoption events around the area. The organization also encourages people to become “Friendly Finders” — fostering a lost pet for the three-day hold period until an animal is eligible to be adopted. After that they can continue to foster the animal or adopt it themselves, with LifeLine providing microchipping, vaccinations and pet supplies.
About four out of five animals the local shelters take in are dogs. According to LifeLine, nearly two-thirds of lost dogs are found less than a mile from their homes. Anyone who finds a lost dog is urged to keep it for 48 hours while they look for the owner.
People can report finding pets, or search for a lost one, through Petco Love Lost at www.petcolove.org. Information on what to do with a lost pet is at www.lifelineanimal.org/Found-pets.
Fulton County opened a new, $40 million shelter in December at 1251 Fulton Industrial Blvd., replacing an overcrowded 45-year-old facility that wasn’t designed to promote adoption or hold animals long-term. The Fulton County Animal Services Facility is three times the size of the old one and is built to hold more than 500 animals, about triple the planned capacity of the previous shelter near the Rice Street jail.
But the old shelter was constantly overcrowded and the new one was full upon opening.
The DeKalb shelter at 3280 Chamblee Dunwoody Road was built for 250 dogs, but its maximum humane capacity is pegged at 475. It has often exceeded that, leading to healthy dogs being euthanized for space.
DeKalb houses an unusually high number of “court dogs,” often abused or neglected or considered dangerous, held by court order for months or years as cases slowly work through the judicial system.
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