ATLANTA, GA – (July,17 2023) LifeLine Animal Project, which manages the shelters for Fulton County Animals Services and DeKalb County Animal Services, has released its euthanasia rates for June and July. Dozens of animals with behavioral challenges are being put down each month due to our ongoing space crisis, large intake numbers and decreased adoption rates.

In June, some 60 dogs with behavioral challenges were euthanized at our Fulton shelter. This month we’ve said goodbye to 21 more dogs. In DeKalb, we’ve had to euthanize 28 dogs so far in July.

When shelters are overcrowded, our teams exhaust all resources required to work with special-needs dogs, thus giving them the extra time they deserve to become adoptable. The stress and noise of a kennel can overwhelm animals, causing them to rapidly deteriorate.

“It is with great sadness that we share these ongoing challenges in our shelter due to overcrowding,” said Audrey Shoemaker, Director of Fulton County Animal Services shelter. “It is heartbreaking when we have to euthanize animals due to a lack of kennel space. We do not believe that any healthy and treatable animal should be euthanized, but we need help. The shelter can only hold so many dogs. Lifesaving is in the hands of the Atlanta community.”

LifeLine is urging people to adopt or foster an animal today from any of our four shelters. Even fostering a dog for a short while can turn things around for an animal who needs some time away from a shelter to decompress. There are hundreds of friendly, highly adoptable dogs at risk of deteriorating in the shelter.

For information on all of our animals available for adoption and fostering, go to LifeLineanimal.org. For hours and locations go to LifeLineanimal.org/contact.