Fulton and DeKalb Animal Services shelters are at full capacity and will waive adoptions fees this weekend to help match pets in need of a home with new owners.
Concerns are growing that the shelters will run out of space if people decide to give up their pets when the eviction moratorium expires Oct. 3, Karen Hirsch, public relations director for Lifeline Animal Project, said.
Lifeline, which manages animal control services for Fulton and DeKalb counties, will hold free adoptions 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday at shelters in Atlanta and Chamblee. Pets will be offered at no charge and will be vaccinated, spayed or neutered and microchipped.
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.
The shelters are taking in 50 new animals in total each day, Hirsch said. Before the pandemic, shelters were accustomed to taking in the same amount during summer months but last year fewer pets were taken in as adoption demand increased, she said.
“A lot of things are at play making it a difficult summer,” Hirsch said of 2021.
About 900 dogs and cats are in shelters, she said, and more are in the care of foster homes. But staff shortages at shelters for positions of people that would clean and maintain kennels have slowed the process of taking pets in, she said.
Hirsch said, volunteer foster parents are needed. Even a two-week period would give staff time to arrange adoptions for the animals, she said.
“It really has an impact on space,” Hirsch said. “People are taking a dog out for one day. That helps because it reduces animal stress.”
During outings, dogs wear harnesses that read “Adopt me” or the foster parent might have a backpack that reads “Ask me about my foster dog,” she added.
“Whatever people can do to help,” the spokeswoman said. “We think of all these animals as Atlanta’s animals and it’s up to us to take care of them.”
Animal services and other organizations across the country expect the number of dogs and cats at shelters to surge as the October expiration date on the federal ban on evictions nears.
Leaders at The Humane Society of the United States said more than 2.5 million pets are at risk of abandonment due to possible evictions that their owner families face. In an August blogpost, the groupsaid about 72% of renters have companion animals.
Locally, Fulton County Animal Services Shelter Director Lara Hudson asked for community support. “We cannot save all of the animals in our care without the community’s help,” she said. “If you adopt or foster today, you are truly saving a life.”
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