Fulton and DeKalb Animal Services will hold free pet adoptions to help find homes for dogs and cats in overcrowded shelters.
The adoptions are part of a “Clear the Shelter initiative” of Lifeline Animal Project and Best Friend Animal Society and will take place daily Sept. 13-19 at three Lifeline locations.
Lifeline fees for vaccinations, spay/neuter and microchip are waived through a $10,000 grant provided by Best Friend Animal Society, the organizations confirmed.
Best Friend Animal Society is a national program working to stop the killing of dogs and cats in animal shelters across the U.S. by 2025.
“With up to 60 animals arriving daily at our county shelters, staff shortages ... and more people in financial crisis needing to surrender pets, it has been a brutal summer,” Fulton County Animal Services Director Lara Hudson said in a statement. “So it’s especially impactful to have Best Friend’s support now.”
Lifeline adopted out 419 dogs and cats during a free adoption weekend in August, Karen Hirsch, public relations director said.
More than 1,000 dogs and cats are in the three shelters and more are in the care of foster homes, she said.
Because shelters are at full capacity, Hirsch suggests people who find lost pets try to find the owners by posting neighborhood flyers or on social media before bringing them into animal services. Lifeline’s website also has a resource tab to help reunite lost pets with their owner.
“There’s a much higher rate of the pet being returned to its home if the pets stay in the neighborhood, than if they go across town to a shelter,” Hirsch said.
Available pets can be viewed at LifeLineAnimal.org or by visiting Fulton County Animal Services, 860 Marietta Boulevard N.W. Atlanta; LifeLine Community Animal Center, 3180 Presidential Drive, Atlanta; or DeKalb County Animal Services, 3280 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Chamblee.
In addition to Lifeline, Best Friend Animal Society is offering half price for adoptions through Sept. 19 at its shelter located at 1692 Oak Street S.E., Marietta. Visit the organization’s website at bestfriends.org.
“For a long time shelters were considered a place to drop off animals,” Stember said. “The shelters cannot handle it now. It’s a community problem. We all have to work together.”
