LifeLine Animal Project’s DeKalb County shelter is on track to have another record year for animal intake, CEO Rebecca Guinn said Friday at the county’s second annual State of DeKalb Animals address.
The county shelter in Chamblee took in 8,954 animals last year, a record since 2013 when LifeLine began managing the shelter, Guinn said. But intake has increased another 18% compared to the same time period last year, she said.
Guinn and other speakers at a luncheon at the Emory Conference Center Hotel blamed tough economic times for the animal influx. Shelter directors have said in recent years that more families are surrendering pets because of inflation.
“This is not an animal issue,” Guinn said. “LifeLine is also trying to move the needle on the human issues, because every one of these 8,954 animals came into our care because of some sort of human struggle or human failure and we need holistic solutions that support the community, support pets as family members, support families.”
Adoption, foster, transfer and return to home rates are also up this year, Guinn said. There were 537 dogs in the shelter Friday compared to a target population of 475, a number that has remained relatively steady over the past year.
“URGENT: HOMES NEEDED!” the shelter website read Friday. “We are out of space and even more animals are at risk for euthanasia. Don’t wait for someone else to step up; visit the shelter to adopt or foster NOW!”
The shelter was built to comfortably hold 250 dogs. At times two years ago, it held 700.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Guinn credited LifeLine employees, volunteers and community members with coming together to ensure the overcrowding crisis does not worsen.
“I think the community and our supporters are really stepping up,” she said. “Our media and marketing team are relentless.”
Evictions from housing are part of the problem, said Cole Thaler, who runs the Atlanta Humane Society’s Pets in Crisis foster program.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Compared to many other states, Georgia law does not give tenants much power to challenge evictions, Thaler said. Afterward, many are unable to find new rentals that will accept pets or cannot afford to keep feeding them, said Thaler, a DeKalb resident who used to work as a lawyer representing tenants.
“Perhaps most of the pets that cross the threshold of our shelters have had, at some point in their lives, a person who loved them, who considered them a part of the family, but then something happened, or a bunch of things happened, and that bond was severed,” Thaler said.
Overflow units to house 120 dogs are still under construction at the DeKalb shelter, Guinn said. Four buildings that each house 12 dogs have been completed, while six more have yet to be built. Guinn said she hopes to move dogs there at the end of July.
The DeKalb County Commission on Tuesday passed an ordinance restricting owners from allowing animals to produce more than one litter in a 12-month period or any litter before the mother is a year old. The ordinance also bans owners from transferring their pets’ offspring before the baby animals are eight weeks old.
The ordinance takes effect Jan. 1.
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