Special to the Herald

SPRINGFIELD -- Effingham County Animal Shelter Director Lorna Shelton is encouraging people to serve as animal foster parents.

Animal fostering means taking in a homeless pet and nurturing it until it is dispatched to a furever home through adoption. The practice helps relieve overcrowding and stress at shelters and pet rescues, and saves animals from euthanasia.

“If you really want to help have a live outcome, you need to foster …,” Shelton said. “That would give us even more life-saving outcomes. We really, really need people to step up.”

Since 2015, the number of euthanized shelter animals has dropped precipitously – from 1,606 in 2015 to 182 in 2022. During that span, the number of animals taken in has decreased from 2,238 to 646.

“We do strive for a no-kill status,” Shelton said.

No-kill shelters don’t kill healthy or treatable animals, reserving euthanasia for those that are terminally ill or considered too dangerous to keep as pets.

“And no-kill shelters can deny access until they have an open kennel,” she added.

Shelton, as the leader of a municipal shelter, doesn’t have that option.

“A municipal shelter is an open-admissions shelter and they have to pretty much accept everything,” she said.

Because of the difference in no-kill and municipal shelters, Shelton is worried that the downward trend of euthanasia in Effingham County is going to end soon.

“We seem to be going backward,” she said. “We are starting to see a spike (in pet owners surrendering their animals) and it’s not just us. Pet rescues are having a hard time.”

Shelton thinks the problem is related to easing concerns about COVID-19.

“More people are returning to work and they don’t have time (for their animals),” Shelton said. “The economy has also played a role. The price of dog food has gone up 40 percent, even 50 percent in some cases.”

The Effingham County Animal Shelter will continue to do all it can to prevent euthanizing animals. One of its most effective methods is its Barn Cat Program.

The most effective way to save animals’ lives is responsible pet ownership, Shelton said. The Effingham County Animal Shelter works and the Humane Enforcement Division of the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office are available to help in that regard.

“Both agencies are here to help people take care of their animals instead of us doing it for them,” Shelton said. “… I don’t want to take in a pet just because someone doesn’t want it. We might have to euthanize it and that breaks our heart.

“It breaks all of our hearts.”

Shelton reiterated that animal fostering is an effective way to boost animal welfare.

“The shelter should be the absolute last resort (for housing animals),” she said. “Just let us deal with housing animals from cruelty investigations and court cases.”

To learn more about animal fostering, visit the shelter at 307 Ga. Hwy 119 or call 912-754-2109.

See animals available for adoption at ecas.petfinder.com.