The Hall County Animal Shelter is taking some new initiatives to try to get dogs and cats in their care adopted.
Newly named Animal Shelter Director Trey Garcia said the shelter is now releasing what he called "urgent lists" of dogs and cats that are set to be euthanized soon in the hopes that it will generate increased interest in adopting the animals before it's too late.
So far, he said it's been a success.
"We've done three posts. Our first one was in May, and I think the total was 29 animals within our three posts," Garcia said. "That has generated 100 percent adoption from all three posts, which is fantastic."
Garcia spoke on WDUN's "Drive at 5" Thursday. He said the new initiative comes as part of the shelter's partnership with the nonprofit organization Best Friends Animal Society. He said the idea actually came from Best Friends.
"When I was interim director in October, one of the things I wanted to do was really put forth a great effort with our recommendations from Best Friends," Garcia said. "One of the recommendations was having an urgent list."
The posts are made on the Hall County Animal Services Facebook page and Garcia said lists of animals in the shelter up for adoption can be seen on the county's website.
He said while the county has had good adoption rates in recent years, the hope is that the new initiative will help to lower the number of animals that are euthanized in the shelter even further.
"We get so many animals that come in and, obviously, time and space is an issue," Garcia said. "It's important that the community knows when there are healthy animals, sweet animals and when their time is up that they know about it. Maybe with that last push, it can really rally the community and they can come and adopt."
To hear more from Hall County Animal Shelter Director Trey Garcia, click play on the audio above.
