HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Although DOGust 1 was the official birthday for shelter dogs around the United States, the Humane Society of Houston County says you should celebrate shelter dogs every day by adopting them.
"You get a great amount of love. Most of the time your animals from here are just willing to do anything to please you," Dee Allison, the director of the Humane Society of Houston County, said.
She says the facility has been at capacity since May.
"So is everybody else, and all the animal controls have been asking us to help because they are being forced to euthanize," Allison said.
She says they usually have around 15 dogs, but right now they are taking care of nearly three dozen, along with about 15 cats.
Allison says the reason shelters are staying full is because there are not enough laws that require spaying and neutering, and to prevent backyard breeding.
"If we could get that done, then we would be like areas up in New England where they're actually searching for animals instead of us where we're having to turn them away," she said. "You go in their animal controls and they’re empty and that’s why they send so many of the southern dogs up there because they’ve got nothing to choose from.”
Georgia was one of five states collectively responsible for half of dogs and cats killed in shelters last year.
According to one animal adoption website, Georgia was responsible for more than 42,000 dog and cat deaths in shelters last year.
Florida, North Carolina, Texas and California accounted for most of the other 690,000 deaths for a total of 733,000.
Allison says they know they can not save them all, but they do their best.
"When you see the adoptions and the faces of the adopters on the days when they walk out of here, that's what makes it all worthwhile," she said.