2021 has been a really rough and trying year. COVID-19 and its impact continues to permeate our organization, community and individual lives. The team at LifeLine Animal Project continues to work hard knowing that the pets in our care and the community continue to rely on us. We’re staying committed to transforming animal welfare in Atlanta and remaining a lifesaving city.
Over the past year, we’ve managed to make a lasting impact in so many different ways. We know how important it is to find joy even in the toughest of times. So we took a moment to reflect, and here are our top 10 favorite moments of 2021. This list is in no particular order! As you can imagine, it would be too difficult to rank these moments, as they all have special places in our hearts.
Received nation-wide attention
LifeLine won the national 2021 People’s Choice PSA Awards for our video All Dogs are Individuals. The video highlighted the importance of judging every dog based on their behavior instead of their assumed breed. Also, our TikTok video about some of our shelter dogs with interesting names went viral, receiving over 1.7 million views!
Reconnected with our community in person
After over a year of virtual operations, we were excited to be face to face with our communities again! Our veterinary staff from Fulton County Animal Services made free house calls to Pets for Life clients. We visited 208 homes and administered free vaccinations to pets in the community. Our Pets for Life team helped over 5,500 animals and 3,200 clients this year! And we also resumed our volunteer orientations and offsite adoption events. We look forward to doing even more in 2022.
Exceeded our inaugural Day of Giving goals
We decided to host our first-ever LifeLine Day of Giving in June 2021. And thanks to generous donors, we more than tripled our initial goal and raised $70,000 to help Atlanta’s animals!
Built new partnerships
We forged many unique partnerships this year, including one with the City of Decatur Fire Fighters, who now offer free microchip scanning for found pets. We also partnered with Adopt-a-pet.com on deliveries of preselected shelter pups to adopters’ homes along with a trainer who provided a free training session. And, we collaborated with Atlanta-based musician and actor International Nova on a video featuring our Dog for a Day program.
Celebrated joyful new beginnings
We never gave up on pups like Tyke, a senior from DeKalb County Animal Services, who had been at the shelter for two years. After a special feature on our Instagram page, Tyke was finally adopted! He’s now a full-time traveler exploring the U.S. with his family. He even has his own Instagram page where he shares his adventures.
Taught our shelter cats to high-five
LifeLine Animal Project participated in The Jackson Galaxy Project’s 2021 Cat Pawsitive Pro class. Using positive-reinforcement training, our shelter cats learned a variety of new skills. Shy cats learned to be more sociable and feistier cats learned to play nice. Some outgoing kitties even learned to give endearing “high-fives” to visitors to seal adoption deals!
Increased our impact at the Community Animal Center
The Community Animal Center (CAC) shelter was busy in 2021, facilitating over 2,000 adoptions, while the CAC veterinary clinic completed over 7,000 appointments. The CAC clinic also provided free or subsidized care to to 20% of our patients whose families wouldn’t otherwise have afforded veterinary care. Not a bad second year, considering our first full year of operations was during the COVID quarantine!
Facilitated many happy reunions
Happy endings make us swoon, and we had many this year! We reunited a pup who was stolen from his dad’s car with his dad one month later. Dogs temporarily living with Safety Net Fosters were reunited with their grateful owners. And, over 1,400 lost pets who came into our shelters were reunited with their families!
Found More Homes in New Ways
Placing pets in homes is an ongoing top priority for us. Just shy of 6,000 pets were adopted into loving homes so far this year. We also continued our Virtual Foster Showcase to virtually bring adoptable pets to potential adopters. Audiences found many of the adorable faces they saw on their screens to be irresistible! We also started a Unicorn Foster Program to help dogs with behavior challenges receive specialized training in foster homes.
Changed perspectives
We chartered a new initiative to shift the mindset within animal welfare and the community that pets belong in homes and not shelters. Our “No Place Like a Home” campaign encompasses four key pillars including fostering, found pets, outdoor cats, and giving up a pet. The goal of this campaign is to give lost pets the best chance to reunite with their families, create space for the pets most needing to be at the shelters and more.
State of the Shelters
Throughout the year, stay informed about the state of the shelters, and how you can get involved and make a difference.
There’s No Place Like A Home
As we look ahead to the future of animal welfare, LifeLine joins a growing national effort to see more pets in homes, and out of the shelter, than ever before.
So although 2021 was a tough year, we hope you agree that there has still been so much to be thankful for. We look forward to making an even bigger impact in 2022. Support from our community, including donors, volunteers, foster parents and rescue partners, makes all the difference in saving pet lives. On behalf of our staff, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
