Finding Homes Up North For DeKalb Shelter Dogs and Cats
Decatur Metro | August 18, 2010Ashley writes in…
You may or may not know that Dekalb Animal Control is bursting at the seams right now with over 400 dogs and cats in the shelter. Many of them (over 60%) will be euthanized because there are just not enough people adopting pets. There is a serious issue in Dekalb County with the number of strays and neglected animals (of all shapes and sizes) who are not spayed or neutered – and so many end up dying.
A group has been started by individuals called Friends of Dekalb Animals. This group goes in and tries to save as many dogs and cats as it can and send them on transport up north to be adopted (the northern states don’t have this serious overpopulation problem the southern states are dealing with – but that is another issue. )
Regardless, we are trying to raise money to get 37 dogs out of Dekalb by early September and need some funding help to do so. If you could pass around to your friends and families, I’d be grateful.. even a couple of bucks will help save a dog from Dekalb. The website is http://www.friendsofdekalbanimals.org/ and you can donate there.
Maybe I’m just being dense, but why is the problem so much worse in the South?
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This is a tough one. We’ve been encouraging the kids to contribute a portion of their allowance to the “less-fortunate people” fund for the local family whose father killed their son (I can’t remember the name).
But I have always felt strongly about animal issues, so we also want to contribute to this excellent organization. So I think maybe we can siphon a bit of that fund toward this effort.
The issue is apparently a lot worse in the South because we don’t have strong spay/neuter laws like they do in the North. Check out the FODA page http://www.friendsofdekalbanimals.org/What_We_Do.html
for more info. As an example of the prevalence of the problem, our neighbors do not vet their pets and like to see what kind of kittens they make so allow them to breed. FODA is a 501c3 and you can set up a monthly payment via PayPal.
Thanks for posting this! Just donated. This is the first i’ve heard of this initiative and i support a lot of local animal charities. My favorite show on tv right now is Last Chance Highway and they do the same thing, every week.
Another favorite animal rescue charity is Atlanta’s Ahimsa House (http://www.ahimsahouse.org/). They help victims of domestic violence by sheltering their pets. Apparently, perpetrators of domestic violence also inflict violence on the pets, which can make it harder for the human victim to leave the situation (http://www.ahimsahouse.org/about-us/what-we-do).
I’ve never spent a frozen winter trapped in the house with snow drifts piled up outside the front door, but the weather may significantly contribute to keeping the numbers of strays a little lower. Sorry for the image.
Thanks for the heads up on this Dekalb effort! It’s terrible that this problem exists. All the awareness in the world can’t make some folks act responsibly. For that, animals suffer needlessly. May the Friends of Dekalb Animals be big time successful in raising money & finding the lucky dogs & cats homes!
( “Last Chance Highway” on Animal Planet is about a similar venture. Talk about boohoos & smiles! )
I absolutely must somewhat derail this topic by giving a HUGE shoutout to Dekalb Animal Services’ shelter.
PLEASE when you think of adopting a shelter pet PLEASE don’t forget the little angels here! They have a group that has been vetted, neutered and temperament tested. I call them “the chosen ones”.
The shelter, as an arm of Dekalb County, receives almost no press & no marketing money. As a result the animals in the shelter get a far less than average chance of being adopted. And it IS a kill shelter unlike PAWS ( who used to be known as the Dekalb Humane Society)
We adopted the MOST awesome Aussie/Lab Mix from DAS in April. She is a true sweetie who’d had previously had alot of training. Not what you’d imagine from “the pound”. And she’d been there for 4 months!! There were many others that we “interviewed” who were nice, apparently well-adjusted dogs just waiting for a home.
If you can’t donate $$ or bring a(nother) pet home, maybe consider volunteering?
Any word on whether they require negative heartworm tests on the animals before they transport them up north? When you transport animals you also transport anything they carry, and heartworms aren’t (yet) as prevalent up north as they are down here.