Fulton wants your help fixing its overcrowded animal shelter

Fulton County officials want your opinions as they look into a new location for its overcrowded animal shelter and how to improve operations.

There will be an open house Wednesday night at the Alpharetta Branch Library downtown to discuss replacing the current shelter, which was built in 1978.

The Fulton commission voted to spend $270,000 for a firm to study space requirements and possible locations, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The county estimates it will spend $25 million on the new shelter project.

At the time of the May vote, commission chairman Robb Pitts described the shelter as looking “like a third- or fourth-world facility.”

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Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts (left) and County Manager Dick Anderson get a tour of the Fulton County animal shelter. (File photo: Bob Andres / bandres@ajc.com)

There are sometimes eight dogs to a kennel at the current facility, and cats are stacked in a separate trailer because the shelter was not designed to house felines.

LifeLine Animal Project, the organization that manages county animal services for Fulton and DeKalb, often holds free adoption events to clear the shelters.

The group ran a campaign last month because it had 1,000 animals between the two counties. More than 800 pets were adopted, with about 475 coming from Fulton, triggering tears from some volunteers, a LifeLine spokeswoman told the AJC then.

Anna and her new owner after being adopted. (Courtesy of LifeLine Animal Project)

Fulton held its first open house about the site search on June 20 in southern Fulton. The county said it plans to have a third and final event in August but hasn't announced details.

This upcoming second open house in Alpharetta is being held so the research firm the county hired and LifeLine can hear from residents.

The open house will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the library, 10 Park Plaza near city hall.