DeKalb, Fulton animal shelters face record dog intakes this summer

ATLANTA - The DeKalb and Fulton County animal shelters say they are taking in more dogs this summer than they have in the past decade. 

Almost half of those animals are lost pets, which owners have failed to reclaim.  

LifeLine Animal Project operates both the animal shelters in DeKalb and Fulton counties. It says the extreme overcrowding in both is in large part due to owners not reclaiming their lost pets that wind up there.  

Director of Operations at DeKalb County Animal Services, Auriana Brown, introduced FOX 5 to Daytona on Friday.  

Daytona is one of the hundreds of dogs at the DeKalb County animal shelter which were lost by their owners and ended up at the shelter.  

"She was unclaimed when she came into our shelter. No owner came forward, unfortunately. So, we do want to find her a forever home," Brown said.  

Daytona is part of a surge of lost dogs that have come in this summer, pushing both the DeKalb and Fulton County shelters to their breaking points.  

According to Lifeline, DeKalb took in 1,005 dogs in July, the highest single month intake in the 11 years since Lifeline took over shelter operations.  

It says 451 of those were lost dogs.  

Similarly, Fulton took in 917 dogs in July, the second-highest single month intake in 11 years; 420 of which were also lost dogs.  

"This has definitely been an astronomical intake for the summertime for the county shelter," Brown said.  

Lifeline says only about 14% of these lost dogs are being claimed by their owners.  

"It definitely weighs on our resources with the amount of animals that are coming in…it's a big strain on our staff," Brown said.  

With that strain, they are having to make difficult decisions to euthanize adoptable animals.  

Brown says the fee to reclaim a lost animal from the shelter was $200.  

But because of the overcrowding from this summer surge, they’re waiving the fee. 

"We know that the reclaim fees can be a barrier to reclaiming for owners who are not able to financially pay for that…there is no judgment. We want to get those animals back into those homes that love and care for them," Brown said.  

Now that they’ve removed the barriers to reclaiming them, Brown hopes every dog like Daytona can get back to their original families.  

 "Please come get your baby. They miss you. We know they would prefer to be with you versus being here in an overcrowded shelter," Brown said.  

LifeLine is also promoting several programs to help reduce the number of lost pets that end up in their shelters.  

Those include the Take 48. LifeLine says since 63% of lost dogs are found less than a mile away from their home, taking them to the shelter actually could impede their chances of reuniting with their family. So, they’re asking anyone who finds a lost pet to take 48 hours, report the animal missing on Petco Love Lost and follow a few quick steps first to help the pet get home, before bringing them to the shelter. 

They’re also looking for volunteers to become a Friendly Finder. Which means that if you find a lost dog and If you haven’t found the pet’s family in a couple of days, to consider keeping the pet for just three days during the "hold" period until that pet becomes available for adoption. After that, you can adopt or foster the pet.  

LifeLine will provide a microchip, all vaccines and supplies to "Friendly Finders."  You can learn more about that program here: LifeLineAnimal.org/friendly-finders

LifeLine is also waiving all adoption fees from Aug. 10 to Sept. 10, which means you can adopt a dog or cat for free for the next month at the DeKalb or Fulton County animal shelters.