Atlanta Animal Shelter Statistics
Compiled by Spot - Stopping Pet Overpopulation Together
Atlanta Area Animal Control Shelter Statistics
Pets are turned-in to Atlanta area animal shelters with alarming regularity. In 2003, there were over 138,000 animals impounded as strays or dropped off by irresponsible guardians at the various county animal control facilities. Unfortunately the general public has very unrealistic ideas regarding the fate of these animals. So often those involved in animal welfare will hear, "Oh... someone with a farm and lots of land out in the country will adopt him and he'll be so much happier than he was with us." This is a fairy tale. While some of these animals will be lucky enough to be adopted or rescued from animal control, the majority will die.
Since 1998, SPOT has been collecting and analyzing statistics gathered from Atlanta area shelters in order to identify trends and pin point areas where public education might make the greatest difference. The results are sobering. Although there have been improvements in some areas, Atlanta area shelters kill almost 87,000 dogs and cats each year. While this number is down from a high in 2001 that reached over 93,000, pet overpopulation in Atlanta is still a problem of epidemic proportions. More pets are killed in Atlanta area shelters than in the entire country of Great Britain, New York City or the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon or Washington. Most of the pets that enter Atlanta shelters are family pets that have become lost or have strayed from home, but without an ID tag the shelters have no way of identifying them.
Please help us help the homeless pets and prevent more from becoming homeless by spaying and neutering all of your pets, by keeping an ID tag on your pets twenty four hours a day seven days a week, by adopting rather than buying a pet and by making a commitment to keep your pet for its entire lifetime.
You can read more about pet overpopulation and its causes in other articles on the SPOT website.
