2021 Impact Report
Thanks to your support of the Atlanta Humane Society in 2021, we were able to impact the lives of 64,228 animals throughout the Southeast. You helped ensure that animals were rescued, provided with specialized medical and behavior support, and adopted into loving homes. You made it possible to help pet owners who hit difficult times so they didn’t have to face the heartbreaking decision of surrendering their pets due to lack of resources. And thanks to you, we were able to provide free pet food to our human service partners and affordable veterinary care to pet owners so they could keep caring for the pets they love.
Caring for our Community’s Animals
Community Outreach
Our Community Outreach Team works closely with human service and animal welfare organizations to provide free pet food to those who need it. We support Meals on Wheels Atlanta, Free99Fridge, and the people they serve by ensuring they have pet food on their shelves. We help our animal welfare partners, including Planned PEThood of Georgia, W-Underdogs, PAWS Atlanta, Paws Between Homes, Lifeline Animal Project & Community Cat Program, Terrell County Animal Control, Newnan-Coweta Humane Society, Tri-State Humane Society, and Clayton County Animal Control, to help lift the burden of costs associated with feeding their shelter pets. We also provide free cat food and community cat housing to trap-neuter-return caregivers throughout the state to support them in their work each day. In 2021, we provided 274,990 pounds of free pet food to our community partners, which was enough to feed 47,440 animals for two weeks.
The large donation of pet food and cat litter was used to supplement our foster homes. With over 100 fosters at any given time, we sometimes cannot fulfill all of the food and litter needs. Our fosters were extremely grateful for the opportunity to have extra items to choose from, including special toys, treats, collars, and sweaters, for their own personal pets as a thank you.
Planned PEThood of Georgia
Resource Center
Our bilingual Resource Center receives more than 5,000 calls each month from community members who are looking to adopt, in need of affordable veterinary care, or have questions about caring for their pet. Last year, they helped provide 18,637 community members with the animal welfare resources for which they were looking.
Shelter Medicine
In addition to providing care for the animals in our shelters, our Shelter Medicine Team also provides support for our community’s animals by offering free spay and neuter surgeries for community cats through our Trap-Neuter-Return Program. They provided these critical services to 1,110 felines last year.
They also provide reduced-cost spay and neuter surgeries to other animal welfare groups who don’t have a robust Shelter Medicine Program. Last year, they performed spay and neuter surgeries on 2,353 shelter animals from other organizations so they could be quickly placed for adoption, in addition to the 3,449 spay and neuter surgeries they performed on animals at Atlanta Humane. We were able to help our partners at organizations including LifeLine Animal Services – DeKalb County Animal Services, Dog Days Rescue, FurKids, Toccoa Stephens County Humane Society, and Butts County Animal Shelters.
Veterinary Center
Our Veterinary Center provides affordable care to our community and, last year alone, cared for 6,684 animals. They offer preventative services, including vaccines, annual exams, spay and neuter surgeries, and microchips, and can provide clients with dental surgeries, heartworm treatment, and diagnostic services when needed. This year, they’re moving into a new location near the East Lake community and are changing their name to Remedy: Your Community Vet to better help represent the quality, accessible care they provide.
Animal Protection Unit
Our Animal Protection Unit works closely with local law enforcement and other animal welfare organizations facing natural or man-made disasters. Last year, they rescued 267 animals from disaster or neglect, including 51 animals who were brought to Atlanta Humane ahead of Hurricane Ida, 29 dogs from a neglectful situation in Toccoa County, and 45 dogs from south Georgia. Our team also went to Louisiana after Hurricane Ida to assist with disaster relief and animal care.
Sheltering the Defenseless
Our Shelter Medicine Team is one of the first stops for every animal who comes through our door. They provide these animals with a head-to-toe exam and specialized medical care as needed. Last year, they treated 749 animals who were suffering from illness or disease.
Our Behavior Team supports our animals by ensuring that both our shelter animals and animals in our foster homes receive enrichment and behavior training. Last year, they implemented 4,845 individualized care plans. This team also worked alongside our Animal Champions to ensure that dogs and cats who needed extra behavior support, like Storm, benefited from it.
Our holistic approach to caring for animals, including providing individualized enrichment and behavior care plans, is what sets us apart. We strive to support every animal through their entire shelter journey by caring for their emotional well-being alongside the physical and medical support we provide.
CJ Bentley, Vice President of Animal Welfare
Our foster network has grown as we’ve placed more animals into foster homes to allow for us to intake more animals into our shelters. Last year, we had 593 active foster families who took 2,880 animals into their homes.
We also helped to increase the chance of a good adoption match and encourage adopters to see how an animal fit into their day-to-day life by offering a Foster First Program. This program enables adopters to take certain adoptable animals home for 2 weeks and see how they mesh with their lifestyles. During this time, we provide them with behavior support, advice, and guidance on how to ensure the animal settles in. Usually, the adoption is finalized after this 2-week period, but when it’s not a good match, we welcome the animal back into our care with additional knowledge and insight into what lifestyle might be a good fit for them in the future.
Your Lifesaving Impact
