Animal shelters short on cash, long on needs

Things are tough. Ask Curby.

He’s facing eviction because the rent is three months in arrears. The doctors who worked on him need to be paid. He has to eat, too.

ALLEN SULLIVAN / aesullivan@ajc.com

A kitten up for adoption at the SPCA shelter in Suwanee.

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Curby would tell you if he could, but he’s just a dog. He and scores more are in trouble because the Georgia SPCA is out of money.

The no-kill shelter in Suwanee is in debt, said Rita Edwards, who manages the Buford Highway facility. Times are so tight that the shelter is asking anyone with a few dollars to consider giving it to Curby and his pals. The shelter houses about 30 dogs and more than 60 cats.

“It’s got to the point where we just can’t keep up,” said Edwards. “We’re doing what we can just to keep the place afloat.”

But shelters, like boats, need constant infusions of cash. The shelter rents for $3,000 a month. Veterinarians who perform spay and neutering services want to be paid. No one is giving away supplies or food, either.

The nonprofit organization is about $12,000-$13,000 in the hole, she said. “That may not sound like a lot of money,” she said. “But when you don’t have what you need to pay, it’s a lot of money.”

The shelter needs $10,000 or more a month to stay in the black, said Edwards. In the past, the shelter has relied on donations and grants, but both have dwindled in the dwindling economy, she said. Other Georgia-based animal-care operations are reporting similar funding woes.

The situation in Georgia is not unique, said Terri Crisp, a program manager for SPCA International.

“Shelters only have so much room and money,” she said. “The economy has had a horrible effect on the companion-animal population.”

The effect, she said, is two-pronged: a deepening recession has hurt donations while simultaneously forcing some people to surrender pets whose care they no longer can afford.

Shelters “are all struggling — the big guys as well as the little guys,” Crisp said.

The Humane Society of the United States has given money to some shelters, said Cheryl McAuliffe, the organization’s Georgia director, “but we can’t give money everywhere.”

Like others active in saving animals, McAuliffe said she gets inquiries from pet owners needing to give away animals, find cheap veterinarian care, and more. “It’s really sad,” she said. “People are turning in their animals to shelters, and the shelters are already overcrowded.”

Crowded with pooches like Curby, whose name derives from where he was found — on a curb.

For more information, call 678-765-2726, or visit www.georgiaspca.org.