About 29,000 Dogs and Cats killed Annually in Georgia Shelters

Best Friends Animal Society has released its 2020 pet lifesaving findings, which gives a national overview of the number of dogs and cats that enter shelters each year in the United States, and the number of dogs and cats that are leaving those shelters alive. The year-over-year data shows that the number of dogs and cats killed annually nationally has dropped from about 733,000 to 625,000 (or about 1,700 killed per day).  Targeted, data-driven lifesaving efforts in Georgia, led by the Georgia Animal Shelter Alliance, is paying off in major ways. Georgia, which was one of the top five states most in need of lifesaving help in 2018, achieved a 31% reduction in the number of animals dying in its shelters (more than 12,000 fewer pets) and has dropped out of the top five states for shelter pet deaths. Now Georgia ranks #6 on the list for killing the most dogs and cats. Of the 210,777 dogs and cats that entered shelters, 162,395 found positive placements, while 29,245 were killed, for a save rate of 77.05%. Also, 31.55% of Georgia shelters are no-kill (a state is considered to be no-kill when every brick-and-mortar shelter serving and/or located within the state has a save rate of 90% or higher).  The Georgia Animal Shelter Alliance is a collaborative statewide lifesaving association with a mission to develop and implement initiatives to ensure a safe placement for all savable dogs and cats that enter Georgia shelters. Best Friends Animal Society is the chair of the association with 34 member organizations state-wide. Together the member organizations have been able to bring about large lifesaving improvements in places like Hall, Newton, and Dougherty counties, who collectively saved over 3,800 more dogs and cats in 2019 than 2018.  The 2019 Georgia state data also shows a large discrepancy between cat and dog lifesaving rates. Over 20,000 cats are killed in Georgia shelters each year which accounts for 69% of all the pets killed in the state. Most of those are unowned, free-roaming cats, called community cats, who are trapped, brought to the shelter, and typically euthanized once their stray hold is up.  Many shelters throughout the state, including in Hall, Dekalb, and Muscogee counties, have recently implemented community cat programs to mitigate nuisance cat complaints and humanely control the outdoor cat population to reduce the number of cats killed at the shelter.