JONESBORO — Amid recent complaints from animal advocates about Clayton County Animal Control euthanizing animals, Animal Control staff updated the Clayton County Board of Commissioners during its June 13 work session.
According to statistics provided by Animal Control, the total number of animals euthanized in 2020 was 125 (2.845% of all animals), 173 (2.4%) in 2021, and 382 (3.93%) in 2022.
The 2022 national average was 8.2%.
“We do listen to the advocates,” Animal Control veterinarian Dr. Margaret Chastine said. “We would like to lower our euthanasia rates even more.”
Mandatory spay and neutering will help in the long run but “it’s going to be a long-term process,” Chastine said.
As far as adopting animals out, Chastine said Animal Control has to be careful because if not, the county could get sued if an animal attacks and bites somebody.
“It pains us, but we do have to think about the liability,” she said.
Intake at Animal Control went down in 2020 because of COVID — with 2,470 animals being taken in.
The numbers went up to 3,104 in 2021 and to 3,206 in 2022.
Animal Control Capt. Jodi Turnipseed said many people adopted pets during the COVID pandemic but then gave them up once they went back to work and couldn’t take care of them. Another problem was the isolation as many animals were not socialized, which created problems later.
While there have been more animals taken in at the shelters, Animal Control has limited space and limited staff.
There is space at the Jonesboro shelter for 71 animals while Ellenwood has a capacity for 59.
As of the June 13 meeting, there were 15 Animal Control officer positions, but only seven were of those positions were filled.
“(We) lost at least one Animal Control officer who said she couldn’t raise her family on her wage — so she left,” said Clayton County Police Chief Kevin…
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