A summer surge of animals coming in, and too few leaving, means LifeLine Animal Project is already having to euthanize animals at the DeKalb and Fulton shelters in part due to a lack of room.
A record 1,005 animals entered the DeKalb County shelter in July while Fulton received 917 last month, the second highest monthly total there in 11 years, according to LifeLine, the nonprofit organization that runs both county shelters
A little less than half the animals coming in last month were pet dogs that had been lost, LifeLine officials said.
“We’re in trouble. We’re pretty concerned about the direction that things are heading,” said Audrey Shoemaker, LifeLine’s client services director at the Fulton shelter.
The crisis is not limited to the counties LifeLine serves.
On Monday, animal rescue group Furkids put out a social media post warning that 100 cats in the Cobb County shelter in Marietta were at risk of being put down. The group asked for foster homes and donations.
Over the weekend Cobb County animal control alerted Furkids that there were two confirmed cases of panleukopenia, or feline distemper — a potentially fatal virus — in the county shelter, said Furkids CEO Samantha Shelton.
LifeLine operates the Fulton and DeKalb shelters 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.
As of Monday, there were 469 dogs and 106 cats in LifeLine’s care in Fulton County.
“Things become pretty challenging once we go over 325 dogs in this building,” she said.
The DeKalb County facility, with an optimal capacity of 475 dogs, had 540 dogs on Monday.
Even under the best circumstances a shelter stay is difficult for animals mentally and physically, and otherwise adoptable animals are being euthanized because they’re deteriorating from being held too long, Shoemaker said.
“Their lives aren’t saved just by being in the shelter,” she said.
Crowded conditions contributed to the situation in Cobb, according to Cobb Animal Services Director Steve Hammond.
“These diseases come up because we’re having to put large numbers of animals in less space,” he said.
The outbreak affected both of the county shelter’s large cat rooms, which held about 100 cats altogether.
“Because of our lack of space, that was going to require us to euthanize a large number of cats in order to receive the new cats that come in every day,” Hammond said.
But, thanks to Furkids and other foster groups, about 50 cats have already been removed to quarantine elsewhere, allowing one cat room to be fully cleared for deep cleaning, Hammond said. That room will therefore be available for new arrivals.
Furkids has pulled large numbers of quarantined animals from the shelter three or four times during previous disease outbreaks, but this was probably the largest number, Shelton said.
The group took 25 cats by midafternoon Monday and planned to get more by Tuesday, she said. It’s hard for many animal welfare groups to take and quarantine animals, but Furkids’ own facility at 5235 Union Hill Road in Cumming has both the capacity and the medical team to hold the affected cats for the required three weeks, Shelton said.
“We’re mobilizing although we’ve already got 1,000 animals in our care right now,” she said. Furkids is moving cats from three areas of its shelter into foster homes, and putting others in pet crates in offices to clear quarantine space for the new arrivals, Shelton said.
Furkids said it will provide all supplies short-term fosters need. To cover that cost, the expense of regular care and preparing animals for adoption, the group is asking for donations: in person, by mail, PayPal or Venmo, or through www.furkids.org/donation.
August is “Clear the Shelters” month. From Aug. 10 to Sept. 10, LifeLine will hold regular public events at which adoption fees will be waived.
“It’s dogs that we’re really talking about that we need to leave,” Shoemaker said.
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.
“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 a statement Monday.
LifeLine said in the release that it never turns away animals. 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.
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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