Dekalb Animal Services (DAS) is an antiquated, unsanitary facility that addresses the county’s companion animal overpopulation problem by euthanizing animals.
Out of the 20 shelters in the Atlanta metro area, including Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton County Animal Shelters :
DAS has the highest kill rate, killing over 80 percent of the 11,000+ animals that were admitted to the shelter;
DAS has the lowest adoption rate, adopting out only 7.4% of their animals;
DAS has the lowest transfer to private rescue groups, transferring only 1.1 percent of animals;
DAS has no volunteer program;
DAS has no screening procedures for potential adoptions to make sure that the dogs and cats aren’t going from a bad situation into a worse one;
DAS does not have a progressive animal welfare management team that makes every effort to treat animals humanely and to save lives;
DAS does not micro chip and tag all adopted pets;
DAS does not attempt to counsel the public on solutions that can help them keep their pet or improve their pet’s quality of life;
DAS not have a separate area for diseased animals, so all are exposed to any disease that one animal might have.
Several other county animal shelters were transformed when their commissioners hired a nonprofit agency to run their shelter. Our neighboring county, Fulton County, is a prime example.
The Fulton County Animal Shelter used to have a track record and statistics extremely similar to DeKalb Animal Service (DAS). But, the Fulton County Commissioners wisely hired a progressive nonprofit, Southern Hope, to manage their animal control shelter in March of 2003. In just a little over one year, the new management at the new Fulton facility cut the kill rate from almost 90% to under 50%, implemented an aggressive spay/neuter and community education program, and set an excellent example of a well run, effective, and humane animal facility in their community.
We, the undersigned, request that the Dekalb County Commissioners put the DAS management contract up for bid, so that an experienced, qualified, and compassionate nonprofit organization can run the shelter.
