DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — In metro Atlanta, dozens of animals that stay in county shelters are both victims and evidence, waiting for their day in court.
Some animals have spent more than a year at shelters waiting for the legal process to play out.
“There is a potential that we will have the dog for a couple of years. It depends on the court process,” Chris Emerson, director of field services for Lifeline Fulton County told Channel 2′s Michael Doudna.
During that time, they take up space, drain resources, and often become less likely to be adopted.
“Institutionalizing the animal is not the best situation,” Emerson said.
“So [the animal] went from a bad place, to you know, suffering more, to death. And that’s not what we intended,” animal law attorney Claudine Wilkins said.
Counties have started to take steps to get owners charged with animal cruelty and abuse cases to relinquish the dogs.
Multiple times this year, Dekalb County has gone after the cost of care, requiring owners to pay for the time their animals have spent in the shelter or give up control of the dog.
Those judgments have been as much as $71,00.
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However, Wilkins said using the law properly would prevent animals from having to spend months in the shelter in the first place.
“What we need is training,” Wilkins said.
She said it starts when authorities first take the animal. She said the case must fall under a state crime like animal cruelty or dog fighting - and the arrest needs an officer.
“If there is going to be a state violation, law enforcement has to make that arrest,” Wilkins said.
State law says if animals are seized because they are the object or instrument of the crime, prosecutors can go to a judge to allow them to take a disposal action.
If granted, the disposal would allow the county to allow that animal to be adopted or sold, and not need to wait for the criminal case to finish.
“And guess what, those animals won’t sit in cases for many, many months or even years,” Wilkins said.
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