Cherokee County Animal Shelter Annual Report 2016

May 15, 2017

The Cherokee County Marshal’s Office Annual Report was released last week. I encourage all Cherokee County citizens and taxpayers to read it. As a former volunteer at the Cherokee County Animal Shelter for several years, and spending many long days there with the puppy mill case in 2014, I want to bring awareness to the public that Cherokee County is one the leaders in the metro Atlanta area for euthanasia. As an animal advocate/rescuer, I've rescued animals from shelters all over the metro Atlanta area for years. I am familiar with many different shelter's policies and procedures and statistics. I am disappointed that Cherokee County’s numbers are increasing, while many other counties are taking steps to decrease their euthanasia rates. You can see the report at:

cherokeegamarshal.org/annual-reports

Our County shelter euthanized almost 1800 animals or 44% of 4025 Intakes. No other animal shelter facility in the metro area comes close to these statistics. Making matters worse, from my perspective, there is a new multi-million dollar intake facility under construction, using SPLOST funds. I believe if the citizens of Cherokee County read this report and truly understand the cost of euthanasia, they would be disappointed as well. Bartow County's euthanasia rate is currently less than 13%, down from 50% just a couple years ago. Why...because the shelter management is becoming more aware of the costs involved with euthanasia, disposal, veterinary costs, the societal impact of spaying/neutering and general community awareness and educational efforts. Cherokee County taxpayers would have been spared a lot of money, probably millions, if only funds could have been allocated for spay and neuter programs, education programs and community awareness.

ONLY 120 of the dogs taken in for the year 2016 were rescued. Currently, rescue organizations are not permitted to come in to the shelter to view or evaluate dogs who have completed their stray holds or rescue dogs who are deemed by shelter staff to be unadoptable for medical or behavioral reasons. Due diligence is expected in preventing disease, euthanizing old, sick dogs as requested by owners and dogs who may be a threat to the safety of the community. However, it is my opinion the assessment methods used here are outdated and flawed. When you put a bowl of food in front of a dog and bring in one or two strange dogs to assess food aggression, there is little expectation that a hungry dog under these stressful conditions, will do anything but bark, snarl, growl or worse. Most people I know don't particularly care for anyone putting their hands/fingers on their plates while they’re eating. The shelter management also has misguided notions that the county would, in some way, be liable for adopting or releasing dogs to rescue who exhibit negative behavior. Most of these traits can be transformed or corrected with training, decompression time out of the shelter and patience by a committed foster home.

Many alternative methods may be considered in lieu of euthanasia and could easily be implemented at this shelter. These ideas are proven cost effective in many counties across the metro area and have effectively reduced the euthanasia rates.

• Promote spay and neuter options to decrease the Intake population with educational literature, social media and classroom visits in elementary and middle schools.
• Offer more frequent low cost spay/neuter options through local vets and coalitions.
• Allow rescues to assess animals and evaluate behavioral and medical cases immediately after stray hold is completed.
• Post the Found dogs (turned in to Intake) on social media and the shelter website. Many shelters do this and have a high success rate for reclaimed animals. Only 10% of dogs were reclaimed in Cherokee County in 2016 using the Finding Rover program. Vet records and previous photos are required to reclaim a dog.
• Increase the stray hold time to 5-7 days (currently 3 business days) so owners may have a chance to reclaim their dogs and cats.
• Allow volunteers to come into the Intake and the Shelter areas to photograph dogs for more effective social media exposure. Create a Volunteer page to showcase animals for rescue organizations. Currently the exposure is limited to an occasional Facebook post and Adopt-A-Pet photos.
• Allow volunteers or staff to write bios for the animals that fit the dog’s personality and to match prospective adopters. Assessing the true personality of animals helps them get adopted.
• Conduct a search for a different, more suitable, dog friendly way of assessing behavior and evaluating the temperaments of dogs and cats.
• Compare the cost of euthanasia to the cost of adoption or rescue of these animals. It is incomparable.

I urge the citizens and residents of Cherokee County to take a closer look at the reasons why so many dogs/cats are euthanized at Cherokee County Animal Shelter. It’s not just a shelter problem, it’s a community problem.

Nothing changes.... IF nothing changes. This needs to change.

Lisa Pelletier