Gwinnett animal shelter cuts euthanasia rate | www.myajc.com

The Gwinnett County Animal Shelter, sharply criticized by a county task force for “gross mismanagement” 18 months ago, has cut its euthanasia rate nearly in half over the past five years, records show.

The 2012 report from the commission-appointed task force cited problems like animals being euthanized daily while the shelter sat mostly empty. Rescue groups were given as little as 45 minutes to find new homes for animals before they were scheduled to be euthanized. The shelter’s management was disorganized and most staff generally acted with “indifference, intolerance and apathy,” the report said.

However, Gwinnett now has one of the lowest euthanasia rates among metro area county animal shelters, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The 2013 rate was 31 percent, down from 59 percent in 2009.

“Every effort is made now not to euthanize,” said Curtis Northrup, chairman of the county’s Animal Advisory Council. “The culture is, ‘Let’s save these animals.’”

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