the SHELTERS
Inside Animal Welfare in Atlanta
by: Sarah Monosso
ENYA
In the summer of 2024, Enya was dumped in a South Dekalb
neighborhood. Georgia law would prohibit her from going anywhere
but the Dekalb County Animal Shelter.
Outside of the DeKalb County Animal Shelter just north of Atlanta proper the parking lot sits full, cars line the side of the street parked in grass, as more circle the lot hoping to find an open space.
Walking through the front doors, which are piled on either side with donations, you are met with chairs filled with hopeful adopters. Volunteers dart from place to place working desperately to keep the shelter functioning to its fullest potential. Spirits are high with the possibility of finally sending some of the long-standing residents to their “forever homes”. The scenes playing out on this hot summer day are heartwarming but beneath the surface the realities for this shelter are much graver.
As one of the two open-intake shelters in Atlanta, the DeKalb County shelter must take every animal that is brought to it within their service area. This leads to high levels of overcrowding and, in turn, euthanasia for space.
In the state of Georgia, the law prohibits other shelters and rescues from taking in stray or abandoned animals. They are required to be taken to the county shelters where they will be placed on a seven-day hold. At first, the law seems to work against animal welfare forcing these animals to be brought directly to “kill-shelters”. However, those active in animal welfare claim the law is set up in the best possible way for the owners and animals.
“It's basically there to protect owners. If you lose a dog, you want every opportunity to be able to find it and reclaim it... And so, the reason that this law is set up this way is so that there's one place where the stray animals go. That's a central place where people can come and look for their lost pets.” said Beth Ganga, who works for the office of the DeKalb County Commissioner Michelle Long Spears.
The DeKalb and Fulton County shelters are not just the only two open-intake shelters in Atlanta. They are also the only two currently partnered with Lifeline Animal Project, who states that it is their “mission to end the euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals through innovative programs, low-cost spay & neuter, affordable veterinary care, and pet retention services.”
Enya's stay would prove difficult for her. After a short couple of months she began shutting down and displaying signs of kennel stress. However, according to volunteers at the shelter, her addition to the euthanasia list would ultimately be due to space.
DeKalb County is considered the fourth-most populated county in the state of Georgia sitting at a size of 271 square miles. ““When the shelter was built in 2017, it was built below what a county of this size should have,” said Andrea Seidl, a LifeLine volunteer and a leader for Advocates for DeKalb Animals. “The recommendation was for a shelter maybe twice what they built, but in 2017, the county literally did not have the money to do more, so they did what they could.”
As soon as visitors enter the building, they are inundated by non-stop barking, no doubt pleading cries from the residents to be released from the cages they have spent most of their lives in. The overcrowding is immediately evident walking through the halls of the shelter. Bonding rooms have been overtaken with stacked kennels, while additional kennels and supply shelves are placed in the hallways. Rooms meant to be exclusively for puppies, now house any animal that needs a spot to stay, and an entire wing of kennels in the back half of the shelter is lost to court case dogs.
The staff break room is stacked to the ceiling with supplies leaving enough room for a table and a walkway. No space here is unused and many are not being used as initially intended, through no fault of the shelter.
Capcity for the DeKalb County Shelter is 475, while Fulton County is 375. Overcrowding has been the leading cause of euthanasias. The number of dogs above capacity "get added to that euthanasia list and they go pull dogs from the at-risk list that are struggling the most typically and add them to that. And then they have a deadline to be out by Thursday evening." explains Stephanie Hinnant, a volunteer and behavior specialist for the DeKalb shelter. "So they have two days to get out. And then if they don't, they're euthanized Friday morning."
A somber day is a Friday where all of the dogs do not make the deadline. As hard as it is, the volunteers give all they have to make the last moments for these dogs peaceful, some even staying with the dog through the euthanasia. Though Hinnant says she is not able to stay in those moments, she is still a part of The Bridge Group. Which she describes as a group that spends times with the dogs who don't find placement before they are euthanized.
In 2024, the state of Georgia carried out 26,356 shelter-initiated euthanasias. This number does not include owner requested euthanasias.
The Shelters
Court Case Dogs
Court case dogs have been an exceptional burden for the county shelters. Any dog being held through a court case not only costs the shelter money, but is unable to be adopted and spend most of the time stuck in their kennel.
Audio of Hadley Nobles
“Financially, it costs over $38 a day to house a dog while it's awaiting the disposition of its case. said Ganga. "And that can really add up. At times we have had over 150 dogs in the shelter that were awaiting court cases. And that's a lot of money, money that could be spent on other animals, you know, adoptable animals."
"There's also a humane impact." Ganga said. "These dogs get locked up for however long it takes for their cases to be resolved. And we've had situations where that's been over one year, over two years, and I think even up to three years, these dogs are impounded until the disposition of their case. And that's cruel.”
Audio of Hadley Nobles
"Any dog, no matter how resilient, will inevitably start to suffer in a situation like that. We are always in desperate need of more responsible foster homes. There can never be enough."
- Borelli
There are many ways for the community to lend a helping hand, according to Borelli. Though not a techie herself, she has learned to make videos to help market adoptable pets from the shelter, which others in the community can do as well.
"We have adoption events where somebody can show up and volunteer, just standing at the desk, talking to people who come up and helping to handle the dogs who are at the adoption event," Borelli said. "And that's a really small commitment, just a couple of hours on an evening or a weekend, and there are so many more like that, so there are just endless opportunities for people to take their talents and their interests and plug in and support the rest of the community."
No matter how you get involved, all fosters seem to agree that, though it may be hard at times, it is also incredibly rewarding.
Legislation
Beth Ganga has volunteered with local shelters and rescues for close to 20 years. However, when DeKalb County Commissioner Michelle Long Spears was elected to her role and Ganga joined her team, both saw it as an opportunity to take their passion of helping animals to the next level.
"We really saw the opportunity to take what was a passion and really make some changes systematically with our county government," Ganga said. "Not just because animals are sweet and furry and cute and we love them, but when you start to look at it from a government perspective, there's all kinds of other factors that come into play."
Ganga detailed the massive financial burden the county faces with animal welfare, stating that DeKalb County spends over $11 million a year on sheltering unhoused animals, not including the animal control side.
"It cost our taxpayers a huge amount of money. There's public safety implications with dog bites and rabies threats and other issues like that. Dogs running loose can run into traffic and cause accidents," explained Ganga. "There are all kinds of issues beyond we like animals, they're cute, to serious issues
that affect our county as a government and affect our constituents and taxpayers."
Spears' office has had two major legislative wins within the past year, successfully sponsoring and passing the Litter Registry Ordinance and the Transient Sales Ordinance in DeKalb county.
With the intent to combat pet overpopulation by fighting against illegal breeding. The Litter Registry requires owners of dogs, cats, and rabbits to register a litter within 21 days of their birth. It also helps to confirm that owners are following the already existing Georgia law limiting the number of litters owners are allowed to breed per year to one.
This ordinance is the first of its kind in the state of Georgia, requiring a lot of hard work from the commissioner's office and some extra helping hands.
"We did not have any blueprints to follow," said Ganga. "It's really easy when you can just pull another piece of legislation from another county and just copy it. We couldn't do that here. We had to start from scratch."
Spears, Ganga, and their team called on a team of animal law experts to help piece together the legislation with the process taking over a year. A strong emphasis was put on balance and legitimacy.
"We had to balance the rights of citizens. We had to balance it with what state law says to make sure that we're not in conflict with state law," Ganga explained. "There were a lot of factors that went into making sure that this would be a successful law that could stand up. We wanted to make sure that we felt confident that we could defend this in a court. So a lot of work went into it, and we're really, really proud that we were able to get this passed."
Ganga emphasized that the goal is to limit unlicensed backyard breeders not to punish citizens. The problem for the county was how to keep track and prove illegal breeding operations.
Spears office also sponsored and helped pass the transient sale ban in DeKalb county. The ban prohibits the selling or giving away of an animal on the side of the road or in a parking lot. Soon after passing in the county, the ban became state law.
The office is also working on updating the tethering ordinance and looking at the possibility of a retail sales ban to prevent pet stores in DeKalb county.
"I think legislation is a really powerful way to enact improvements in animal well-being. You know, we we love grassroots ground up efforts." said Ganga.
Regarding national laws on animal welfare, Ganga said that would be more difficult.
"We really need to get more laws on the local levels, then on the state levels, and then I think the push to make things national becomes easier. And I think we're just not there yet," explained Ganga. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We should keep pushing."
Video: Beth Ganga
"There's something so ironic about pulling a dog out of a situation because it was being neglected or there was cruelty and putting it into another cruel situation. That just doesn't make sense. So, one of the things that we have really focused on is trying to figure out how can we speed up these court cases." - Ganga
Legislation called "cost of care" and "motion to dispose" has been passed in DeKalb County to help ease the strain on the shelter and to attempt to expedite the process of court case dogs. Cost of care puts the financial responsibility back on the owners, often encouraging them to reliquish their rights to the dog allowing them to be moved to general population and join the list of adoptable pets. While motion to dispose is a request for the evidence/property - the dog - to be released so that they can be adopted.
As of late, however, volunteers with the shelter state that cost of care is not being utilized to its fullest potential. Signs point to a lack of resources within the offices charged with filing the civil cost-of-care suit against the owners. "DeKalb County was doing a lot with those two avenues up until last spring." Said Hadley Nobles, a local foster and animal advocate. "And then now they're claiming they're short staffed. And so they haven't been doing any of those legal avenues to release these dogs. So there's right now a big push to try to get the county to start doing those two avenues again."
"I think because these animals are so vulnerable and so defenseless and have no ability to advocate for themselves, that there needs to be particular care and attention given to them to make sure that the county is holding up its end of the public policy bargain."
- Borelli
Often faced with the worst conditions in the shelters, court case dogs are forced to the back. The front is reserved, out of necessity, for adoptable dogs. This setup means that court case dogs are not only more isolated but also see far less human interaction.
The conditions forced upon them takes a toll on their mental health after they have already been abused and neglected. Many in the world of animal advocacy feel that the system is punishing these dogs multiple times due to not acting quicker and utilizing ordinances like "Cost of Care".
"There's an effort right now to try to get the county refocused on those cost of care petitions," said Tara Borelli, a local attorney and foster. "They're effective. They need to be filed. They need to be filed immediately. As soon as a dog comes into the shelter system, the petition should get filed for that dog, no matter what is happening through the process with respect to criminal charges."
The hope is that the county recognizes the gravity of the issue and understands its responsibility to rectify it.
"People worked very, very hard to create the ordinance that allows for these cost of care petitions to be filed," Borelli said. "And to not have them be used, let alone to the full extent that they're available is really an unacceptable situation. I hope it's something that the county remedies swiftly, and we're certainly doing everything we can to try to cause that to happen."
The shelters and drawn-out timelines are, unfortunately, not the only obstacles court case dogs face. There are also challenges in the fostering world, offering little hope for these dogs to get a reprieve from stressful environments.
“It's really hard to find people that actually want to foster live-evidence dogs, not because there's anything wrong with them," explained Nobles. "It's just that they cannot be marketed for adoption. And then a lot of times these cases can take anywhere from a few weeks to years. So a lot of people just don't want to commit to the unknown of how long they'll have this dog,"
While in the shelter, there are not many ways for the court case dogs to be marketed for foster. Unless there are fosters, like Nobles, who track the "live-evidence" dogs and put in request with the approved internal process to find a foster, the dogs will most likely spend the duration of the case in a shelter kennel.
By the end of January, there were an estimated 74 dogs in DeKalb County being held as live-evidence and the majority were still being housed in the county shelter.
Fostering
It was a sunny Friday afternoon and a busy day for Stephanie Hinnant. She had spent her morning volunteering at the DeKalb shelter doing assessments and taking a small break in her car to speak with me before going back inside to mentor new volunteers. Hinnant's day would end with a win that all fosters hope for: She would be taking one of her foster dogs to its new family.
One of the biggest saving graces for these shelters is the hundreds of fosters taking in animals, helping them decompress and doing the hard work of finding them their forever families. However, the work done by these volunteers is anything but easy and has many faces.
The world of fostering is a unique experience for each volunteer, and they often juggle several other jobs to aid shelter dogs. Many volunteers are able to add advocate, behavior specialist, coordinator and social media content creator to their volunteer resumes.
Nobles recently took a break from fostering after she "foster failed" her past two dogs. She did, however, stay active in advocacy, working hard to take care of court-case dogs.
"I'm not currently fostering right now because we have three dogs, and they're all crate and
rotate. So my fostering life right now is put on pause," explained Nobles. "I've primarily been doing advocacy and fostering for court case dogs in DeKalb County, which is basically dogs that are being held as live evidence."
Nobles got involved with court case dogs after her foster fail Rayne was found in her neighborhood. She had to go through the court process herself to make sure Rayne did not go back to her previous owners who were found to be abusing her.
The experience was eye opening for Nobles, who now spends the majority of her time in advocacy getting court case dogs out of the shelter and into foster homes while their cases are ongoing.
Outside of the challenges of advocating for court case dogs, Nobles details two other challenges she sees in animal welfare. The first being the assumption that fosters should just adopt the dogs they are fostering.
"That's not what fostering is for," Nobles said. "Fostering and people that foster, they want to be able to help a dog find their forever home and their perfect fit. And there's nothing wrong with foster failing, but I think a lot of fosters genuinely want to help the dog or the cat find the best owner and the best family."
The goal is to find the perfect fit and though the fosters may love and take great care of the animals, there is often a better home for them.
The second challenge is the idea of how long it takes for fosters to find homes. "I think also there's this expectation that dogs in foster sometimes will just immediately find a home because they're
out of the shelter," explained Nobles. "But that's often also not the case because the more they're in a home, right, the more you get to know them. And so just sending them off with some random person isn't going to necessarily be the best for that dog either."
As Nobles has focused on being a voice for court case dogs and working hard to expedite cases and free dogs from heartbreaking situations, Hinnant has found herself focusing on behavior dogs at the shelter.
Fostering and volunteering at DeKalb County Animal Services, Hinnant participates in behavior assessments, trains new volunteers, and makes the last days joyful for the dogs that will not make it out of the shelter.
For Hinnant she wants the community to understand the realities of adopting pets from the shelter. "I think the biggest thing is that a lot of people don't understand dog behaviors and that they need that decompression time," Hinnant said. "And that's really where we see the highest number of dogs coming back is because people haven't given them the time and opportunity to feel safe before they start working with them."
Hinnant explains that the dogs have gone from a high stress environment and need time and space before their new pet parents try to bond and work with them. The goal is to create a consistent and safe environment where the pet can decompress and engage on its terms.
Borelli fosters while also learning how to use social media to find homes for adoptable pets still in the shelter. She rotates through other volunteer programs like dog a day or weekend warriors when she and her family need a break from the long term fostering.
There are many ways for fosters to get matched with dogs from the shelters. "It's almost sort of endless variations on the ways that you can find the dog to bring into your home," Borelli said. "And it will bring you joy to care for them while they're looking for their forever family."
Borelli detailed the importance of fostering by describing a foster her family took in after seeing a plea online for someone to take her home.
"At that point she was the longest-serving resident of the shelter and I forget how long she had been in there, but it was just an unthinkable amount of time for a dog, particularly when you think about their lifespans are not that long and so if they spend a year or two years in a shelter, that's a major portion of their life." explained Borelli
Coming into work early, Detective J.T. Williams began his day reviewing night shift calls when he came across one particular call that promted him to dial Deputy District Attorney Jill Hollander. "We've got a bad one" he told her before describing a case so revolting she would show up to the defendent's first appearance herself - an uncommon occurance for a deputy district attorney.
The night before, Officer Kellie Smith responded to a domestic violence call, meeting the victim in a nearby parking lot. There, Smith learned that the victim's fiance, Joshua Allen, had stabbed her dog to death outside their front door. His actions were caught on a doorbell camera, leading Smith to convince the victim not to go home that night.
"When you see that he set the alarm on his phone to go off every five minutes to see if her car is there - she was dead," Williams said. "Kellie understands now more than ever not allowing her to return to the scene saved her life. We were working a murder if that happened. That's the worst of the worst. That guy, that's just evil."
Williams explained that his department sees varying levels domestic abuse and violence, ranging from leaving roses on a car to stalking with tracking devices. Some men will retaliate against a breakup by posting intimate pictures online, he said. Then you have what Williams calls "the sadistic ones", the ones willing to kill to maintain control.
"If you're willing to kill an animal like that, if you're willing to beat your girlfriend with a dog, or if you're willing to pull a butcher knife out of a block, take the dog outside, dog runs back in, jumps on the couch, drag it back out...That's the guy," Williams said. "How much worse can it get? (He's) killing a puppy, he's going to kill her."
When Deputy D.A. Hollander played the doorbell footage of Allen murdering his fiance's dog during his trial, she warned of the graphic nature. Only a couple people opted to leave initially. However, once the video began playing, people were running out the door crying, recalled Williams. Still, the only concern Allen had was that he would be banned from ever being around or owning dogs for the rest of his life.
"He goes, what do you mean I can't be around dogs anymore? I love my Meathead" said Williams. "And (he) argued with the judge that he's not allowed to be around a dog for the rest of his life. And what a great dog owner he is and how much he loved Meathead."
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 99% of pet owners consider animals to be “companions” or “members of the family.” Women tend to be the caregivers for animals in majority of homes. While abusers exploit victims emotional attachments to coerce and control by threatening the animals and warning of escalation. (2007)
From Left: Deputy D.A. Jill Hollander, Detective JT Williams, Officer Kellie Smith
Courtesy of Detective Williams from APAWS Conference 2025
Williams explained that on any major crime scene you have immediate tasks, intermediate tasks and general tasks.
Immediate tasks included preserve the camera footage from the doorbell and determining if animal control had possession of the dog. Intermediate tasks included making sure everything was photographed, swabbed and coordinating with UGA for the necropsy.
Though his team moved quick and were able to secure the necessary evidence against Allen, Williams said his department gained new knowledge from this case that will be implemented going forward.
"I learned something from Jill," Williams said. "I didn't realize that we could have swabbed the blood and then compared it to the dog, and we also could have collected the feces, because feces have epithelial skin cells on them, because when it comes out of you, it passes through, and it collects the skin cells, so it can be lightly swabbed as well.
"I didn't know that GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) would do an enzyme test to prove that it's an animal. It can do a DNA comparison, like we use CODIS, where we get your buccal swabs, compared to blood or bodily fluids, things like that."
Though Williams said the Sandy Springs Police Department trains well, he does think there needs to be more training. He encourages shift sergeants and their teams to ask for a detective when an animal is involved, stating that certain steps have to be taken.
He also tells his teams "that is gonna get media attention, it's gonna get outcry, it's gonna get advocacy, you know, the animal rights activist groups get involved, and it's gonna get command staff attention. It's big."
Domestic Violence & Animal Cruely
"It's all interconnected. And so anything we can do to help animals is also going to help people." -Ganga
"Hell hath no fury of the scorn of an animal activist. You get crimes against children, you get crimes against the elderly, you get crimes against animals. That is what we call the red flare." -Detective Williams
Joshua Allen would plead guilty to first-degree cruelty to animals, terroristic threats, and tampering with evidence. He received an 11 year sentence without the possibility of probation or parole.
Joshua Allen - Photo courtesy of Detective Williams
The Link
Research shows a close link between animal cruelty and domestic violence. Many can attest to recognizing this trend in serial killers who often first show signs of cruelty against animals before moving on to other vulnerable groups. The link to domestic violence is one that is not as widely known but is beginning to gain visibility.
"Even though pets are so common in American households, people just don't think about them when it comes to crisis times until that crisis arises," said Oné Carrington, the community services coordinator for Ahimsa House. "With domestic violence being one of those crises, it's like a blind spot really. It's like, okay, humans need safety, but who else is in that house that needs safety? What else needs to be taken care of in order for this family to escape properly?"
Ahimsa House is an organization "dedicated to helping the human and animal victims of domestic violence reach safety together," its website states.
The non-profit, whose name means "non-violence" in sanskrit was formed after founder Emily Christie lost a pet to domestic violence.
Carrington detailed the initial process for victims to work with Ahimsa House. The first step is a crisis line call with a victim services advocate. If eligiable, the victim will be sent paperwork to sign and then is accepted into the program. Once accepted, Ahimsa House will coordinate with a veterinary clinic to see when the pet can be droppped off. They also determine if they can provide temporary hotel stays and transportation to the hotel and veterinary clinic.
The pets will stay with the veterinarian for a week or two, depending on availability, and receive a wellness checkup, vaccinations, and get scheduled for their spay or neuter surgeries if they are eligible.
Since COVID-19, both domestic violence and animal welfare spaces have seen a consistent increase in cases. The struggle to keep up with the increase has led to euthanasias for the animal welfare space and case limits for the domestic violence services space.
"We previously were accepting as many survivors that needed our assistance," said Carrington. "But because that number was getting too great and we were getting out of our capacity to handle it, we've had to implement case limits."
Ahimsa House is also facing another obstacle outside of the increase in domestic violence cases in Georgia. A recipient of federal funding from the "Victims of Crime Act", Ahimsa House has recently had this funding cut by more than half since it was rescinded by the current administration.
"These funds actually pay for staff salaries," Carrington explained. "If we aren't able to make up that deficit, it's likely that we will have to lay off employees. I would say most domestic violence shelters, in some capacity, have been impacted by this," Carrington continued. "So, it seems that a lot of states are helping to make up these deficits."
The board for Ahimsa House is also working tirelessly to make up the deficit to keep the non-profit running. Though, Carrington admits that the funding cuts is not the only barriers facing them.
"Federal funding cut aside, Ahimsa House has been struggling financially to provide care for our pets, really because we don't have enough free support," said Carrington. "We use veterinary clinics, we use pet partners to help provide vet care for our pets. And when the pets are in our program long-term, if they're not with a foster, they're in a boarding facility and Ahimsa House pays that boarding fee every day for however many pets that we have. So that's also a reason why we had to limit our capacity, because it was just getting far too expensive."
Ahimsa house and programs like them are in desperate need of discounted and free services, and more fosters, but with the need so great across the board, it has been difficult for them.
Carrington furthered detailed the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence, citing a 2016 study by the FBI showing that of adults arrested for animal cruelty, 45% of those were arrested again for another criminal incident. 44% had a history of interpersonal violence.
Awards for Detective Williams including "Pet Protector of the Year" for
his work on the Joshua Allen case - Awarded at APAWS 2025
"But if we're really trying to end domestic violence, it needs to be also on the criminal side, abusers need to be held accountable." -Carrington
The correlation is one that even those who have been working in animal welfare for years are only recently learning about.
However, along with not knowing, some think that people just don't want to know about things like animal cruelty and domestic violence.
"I think animal cruelty sometimes is just kind of swept under the carpet. You know, we see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. People don't want to talk about it. They don't want to know it's around," said Williams
"People don't want to acknowledge that these things occur. They always want to turn the other eye and look the other way, you know?"
While the Commission on Family Violence is consistently talking to politicians and lawmakes to help fund domestic violence programs, cases have been consistently increasing in Georgia leaving the burden of handling domestic violence and animaly cruelty on the small non-profits.
"So, violent individuals tend to be violent towards whoever they can be," said Carrington. "It's such a red flag. You're harming animals, who's next? It's usually other vulnerable populations."
Ahimsa House
So, how exactly do you combat animal cruelty, domestic violence and hold abusers accountable? Carrington believes that law enforcement needs to be more aware of the issue, have an increase in domestic violence training and be more active in the domestic violence social service world.
Carrington recalled hearing from the solicitor general's office in DeKalb county that 1 in 3 misdemeanor cases are domestic violence. Officers have also stated that they receive dozens of domestic violence calls daily.
It can be difficult to determine who the aggressor is and who the victim is. There are many questions and proper steps to take to get to the root of the issue. However, there are questions of if police are properly handling these calls. According to Carrington, a lot of the times they aren't, though she believes its just because they don't know.
"I think that would make a difference if law enforecement just had more information on how to handle domestic violence calls," said Carrington. "They get only so many weeks of training and only a small portion of it is focused on family violence, even though that's going to be a decent amount of the calls and cases they handle."
Hadley Nobles
Georgia Domestic Violence Shelters who Accept Pets
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Mental Health
Assisting in any community service role like animal welfare and domestic violence services can be emotionally taxing. There are varying ways to protect mental health but all working in these roles can agree that you have to something to help whether that be a support group, time away, or rotating the ways they are showing up to volunteer.
"Working in animal welfare is rewarding but can be emotionally challenging at times. This is largely in part because staff and volunteers at our shelters deal with sick or injured animals and hard decisions about euthanasia on a regular basis," ," said Sam Moore the social media coordinator for DeKalb County Animal Services.
"To support our mental health, we use counseling resources when available, and practice self-care outside of work. Many shelters offer debrief sessions or peer support programs to help cope with stress and I think it's really about creating a culture where it’s okay to say, 'I’m struggling today,' and get help."
For Stephanie Hinnant, the knowledge that if she doesn't show up to help, the dogs are the ones who suffer keep her pushing through the hard moments. She also recognizes that euthanasia, in certain situations, is more humane than allowing the animals to continue suffering.
"When you see them get to the point where they're suffering to where hardley anybody can handle them and they're just so immensely struggling, then it's no longer humane to keep them alive for the sake of them being alive." explained Hennett.
Tara Borelli recognized that there are a multitude of ways to volunteer and help animal welfare. For her taking a break from helping in one way and picking up helping in another way is a great tool for protecting her mental health.
Much of what she and her family have done is long-term fostering, but they have also done short term fostering, taking dogs from other fosters if they are on business trips or vacations to ensure the dogs do not go back to the shelter, affecting numbers and potentially the euthanasia list.
Dog for the day and weekend warriors have also been in the rotation of volunteering events for Borelli's family. Taking dogs out on small adventures and marketing them for adoption. She describes these programs as a low-pressure, low-stakes way of helping animals.
"I think it's finding lots of different ways to provide help and to find happy outcomes, and that's what keeps you going even through the moments that are hard and sad." said Borelli
Hadley Nobles relies on the other volunteers who focus on court case dogs, describing them as her support system.
"I think you have to just rely on other people to support you and find people that understand," said Nobles. "So, I've come to rely on my friends that I've met through doing this advocacy."
Nobles also recognizes that it is important to sometimes take steps away. Between her latest two foster fails, she and her family took two years off from fostering.
"It was just exhausting for us and we had been doing back to back behavior dogs," explained Nobles. "That's just something that sometimes you have to do. And it's hard because every time I see a dog in the shelter, I'm like, oh my God, I want to bring that dog home."
For Oné Carrington, she describes her role as not as strenuous as her co-workers who answer crisis lines and handle intakes. However, October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is an emotionally trying month for her.
"I may attend like five vigils. So that's five evenings where I'm hearing the names of the people who've died over this past year of domestic violence. And people's families are there, survivors speak. So they're very, very emotionally draining experiences," said Carrington. "So after October, I have to take like a week off."
The needed time away is due to a combination of the emotional toll and the extensive travel Carrington does for Ahimsa House.
Taking adequate time off and communicating within the small group when they are not doing good is how the team of Ahimsa House protects their mental health. Carrington explained that everyone is willing to give breaks when needed, and that there is no question or worry about losing a job due to it.
Detective Williams has a number of ways to protect his mental health, but the biggest one for him is faith.
"You have to believe in something. You have to have faith. You have to understand that things happen for a reason and that you can't control it. You have to have the warrior mindset that you're going to be a voice for that victim." said Williams.
Hobbies and talking were the other tools Williams uses to deal with the experiences he has working in law enforcement. The city of Sandy Springs offers counseling and one-on-one opportunities to speak with therapists if wanted.
Officers see the worst of the worst calls, most people have a difficult time comprehending the horrors seen. Williams recalled a talk he did in Washington State where it was revealed that 27 officers had taken their lives by May of 2025. However, mental health is now being addressed more within police departments and Williams recognizes that importance.
"You have to have an out. You have to understand that it's not your fault."
Mental Health
Every year Lifeline Animal Project holds two Healthy Pets events, one in DeKalb county and one in Fulton County. The event's goal is to offer vaccinations and spay/neuter services to members of the community who either do not have access or can not afford them.
The event provides free rabies and distemper/parvo vaccinations for dogs and cats, free microchips, vouchers for free spay or neuter surgeries at Lifeline Spay & Neuter Clinics, and free supplies like food, leashes, or litter boxes.
According to the LineLine Animal Project webiste, last year:
1,752 dogs and 758 cats were helped
1,248 Microchips were given
2,201 DHPP/FVRCP vaccines were administered
2,054 Rabies vaccines were administered
1,711 Spay/Neuter vouchers were handed out
Enya
After COVID-19, Athanasia Kotsamanolis returned to Greece with the intention of fixing up her grandmother's house. While there, she became involved with neutering and vaccinating strays in her town, aware that the problem with strays,neglect and abuse of dogs is not a problem unique to the United States.
In the process, she would meet a pregnant dog who would go on to give birth to eight puppies. Kotsamanolis found homes for most of them, but opted to keep two of the females, naming them Bella and Bloom.
When deciding to return to the United States, she intended to bring the two puppies with her. However, an emotional plea from her father would have her leaving Bella and Bloom behind on the farm in Greece they already knew as home.
"My dad was like, 'you can't take these dogs away from me," recalled Kotsamanolis. "He's like, 'I love them. I adore them. You're going to break my heart if you do that.' I'm like, yeah, but what about my heart, you know?"
Coming back to the U.S. alone, Kotsamanolis described herself as depressed but knew she made the right decision for the puppies who already had a great, loving home. However, she had to do something to help herself.
"I said to myself, I've got to do something to mend my heart, you know? I'm not from Atlanta, so I didn't even know about Lifeline in DeKalb County. I just went online, and the first picture that popped up was Enya," said Kotsamanolis. "And I said, this dog looks so neglected. I'm like, I think this girl needs some help. I saw it on Sunday, and Monday morning, I was outside their door before they even opened."
Walking into the shelter, Kotsamanolis announced she was there to see Enya before She was led outside to the back where a staff member brought out Enya to meet her.
"She had no interest. It wasn't a first sight of love kind of thing," said Kotsamanolis. "This poor dog was, found out in the streets, ends up in a shelter. It's loud. It's noisy. A lot going on. And I just saw how skinny she was, and how malnourished she was...no human, no animal's gonna interact with you right away. Everybody needs time."
On Tuesday, Kotsamanolis returned to the DeKalb county shelter before seven with her daughter, and a new pink leash and harness and took Enya home.
Athanasia Kotsamanolis with Enya - photos courtesy of Kotsamanolis
Audio of Athanasia Kotsamanolis
Adopting Enya put both her and Kotsamanolis on the road to mending their broken hearts. Though, one small detail about Enya would continue to make Kotsamanolis sad.
"The only thing that really did break my heart is that Enya did not know how to play with toys. She didn't know what to do with a bone." said Kotsamanolis. Interacting with her daughter's dogs would eventually help Enya learn how to play with a toy, chew a bone, and just be a dog.
Now, Enya is doing much better being spoiled with long walks, food, and doggie play time. "Sometimes I have to work, but I always make sure that she has the dog walker coming, sometimes even twice a day. I want her to get her exercise and be social with people and other dogs. And yeah, she's living life. She's living life, baby. She's great." exclaimed Kotsamanolis
When adopting from the shelter, the new pet parents have the option to keep the name given to the dog at the shelter or to change their name. Kotsamanoli opted to change Enya's name, but the reasoning and name she chose holds a special place in her heart.
Audio of Athanasia Kotsamanolis
Liza Kotsamanolis
by Sarah Monosso March 8, 2026
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