Georgia Animal Welfare

Planned PEThood of Georgia has released a new white paper “2026 Big Ideas for Georgia Animal Welfare,” outlining high-impact strategies to reduce shelter intake, support pet owners, and save lives. It calls for urgent, coordinated action to address Georgia’s animal overpopulation crisis.

The report, led and sponsored by Planned PEThood of Georgia, brings together insights from a cross-section of Georgia animal welfare experts alongside national and local research and data, to identify practical, scalable solutions that can reduce shelter intake and save more lives.

Georgia’s animal welfare system is under increasing strain. More than 150,000 cats and dogs entered Georgia shelters in both 2024 and 2025. Tragically, more than 30,000 cats and dogs died in municipal shelters each of those years. Caring for these animals cost taxpayers an estimated $100 million each year.

“We cannot rescue and adopt our way out of this,” said CJ Bentley, CEO of Planned PEThood of Georgia. “If we want to see fewer animals entering shelters and fewer lives lost, we have to focus on prevention, coordination, and access to care. The solutions exist. What’s been missing is alignment and action. Planned PEThood is committed to helping lead that next phase of work across Georgia.”

Marci Reynolds, Director of Development and Marketing at Planned PEThood and a Georgia-based animal welfare advocate for more than a decade, authored the white paper. “One of the biggest opportunities is alignment,” said Reynolds. “With nearly 1,200 animal welfare organizations working across the state, we have the people, resources, and expertise, but not always a shared strategy. To make real progress, we need to move out of silos and work more collaboratively, aligning efforts and resources to achieve greater impact.”

The report outlines a clear, actionable roadmap for reducing shelter intake across Georgia, centered on three key strategies:

• Improve access to existing resources that help families keep their pets.
• Unify the animal welfare community to increase statewide impact.
• Scale affordable spay and neuter (including TNVR, Trap – Neuter – Vaccinate – Return) which is not a new idea, but remains the single most powerful, proven strategy to reduce pet overpopulation.

Download the full report here.

Planned PEThood of Georgia is actively working to advance these strategies and invites organizations, policymakers, and supporters across the state to engage in the next phase of this work. For questions or to get involved, contact Marci Reynolds at mreynolds@pethoodga.org.