Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi....I'm shannon with castoff pet rescue in Ga....I watch every week and see the list of the animals in several of the animal services  in the metro Atlanta area...ALL  are filled with pit bulls and mixes....how do we save them all...when a lot of rescues will not pull them, and the ones that do cannot fill their shelters with them.....I can only imagine the numbers being euthanized on a weekly basis, just in a few GA  counties....

I think Bonney Brown's marketing ideas, which she put into practice in Reno and since then with her consulting work, are key to saving pit-bull-type dogs. Her consulting service, Humane Network, has a free brochure on how any city or county can increase adoptions from its shelter: http://humanenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Ten-Top-Tips-to-Save-Lives-by-Increasing-Adoptions-at-Your-Shelter-4-16-18.pdf. I recently wrote a blog about a crucial concept discussed in the Humane Network brochure -- Adoptions per Thousand People: http://outthefrontdoor.com/2018/04/24/the-culture-of-adoption/.

Some people who come to a shelter to adopt have a set idea of what type of dog they want, and they won't budge from that. But an awful lot of people just want a pet to love -- the way the pet relates to them is more important than its appearance (and I think pit-type dogs are super-cute, by the way). Pit-type dogs have an extra hurdle because of all the HOA, landlord, and insurance restrictions against them. But if a community sees the shelter as the go-to place to get pets, then pit-type dogs will get adopted.

Another program that can help is HSUS' Pets for Life. It does not engage in breed labeling, but simply offers help, including spay-neuter, on a block-by-block basis in zip codes that are sending lots of pets to the shelter. It emphasizes establishing trust with residents and bringing free and affordable pet services to areas where they are not easily available.

Thank you...I'll look at it

I'm not sure where this rescue is, but we transfer in from Georgia all the time. Often they are Pit Bulls that we take. We do not look at the breed, we look at temperament when deciding to transfer in an animal or not. Perhaps this rescue could reach out to shelters in other areas to transfer to as well. Our philosophy: An empty cage is a life not saved!