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April 7 -13, 2016 » Page 5A
PAWS
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supplemented by “hundreds” of
volunteers.
“We’re very lucky that we have
such a strong volunteer base, both
individuals and corporations that
come out,” McDonald said.
McDonald said that most of the
calls that PAWS Atlanta receives
are from people who want to
surrender their pets, and one of the
top reasons they give is because
they are moving.
“Someone said recently, ‘Are
they moving to Mars?’ Because
where are you going that you can’t
bring a pet?” McDonald said.
Sometimes a pet owner is
moving into an apartment that does
not allow pets or has very high pet
fees and initial deposits, she said.
“If they would contact us sooner
we could counsel them,” McDonald
said. “We know apartments that are
dog-friendly. Of course, with bigger
breeds—pit bulls, RottweileOrs,
German shepherds—it is
challenging in apartments.”
Another reason owners give up
pets is they’re having a baby.
“Pets are not a starter kit,”
McDonald said. “They’re not Oust
to keep] until you have a baby, until
you get married. It happens so
often that someone will have a dog
for nine years and then say ‘I’m
having a baby; I’m just not going to
have time for [a pet].’
“That to me is heartbreaking,”
McDonald said. “Yes, you have a
child but you just have to take the
dog for a walk and stuff. He’s not
asking for you to dance and party
with him every day. I know once
you have a child it changes your
life, but it’s weird how [some pet
owners] can just turn it off—it’s like
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PAWS Atlanta’s van is “saving lives one tail at a time.” PAWS Atlanta is located on
Covington Highway in unincorporated DeKalb County. Photos by Andrew Cauthen
The vet clinic is a new venture for PAWS Atlanta.
the dog means nothing then.’
Other pet owners who
surrender their pets say they
cannot afford the care.
“We offer a lot of solutions to
that,” McDonald said. “We offer
low-cost vet care, free food [and]
free spay/neuter if we have a
grant...to cover it.
“I know they think they’re
doing what’s best for the animal,”
McDonald said. “Leaving your
animals home eight hours a day is
better than putting them in a shelter
or a cage here with us.”
McDonald said PAWS Atlanta
staff is “always compassionate...
whatever the excuse or the reason
[is that] someone has to give up
their pet.”
Staff members “really try
to counsel them, offer them a
solution,” McDonald said. “If it’s
really about affording their pet, we
have a pet food pantry so we offer
free pet food.
“Our only requirement is that
you spay/neuter your pet,” she
said. “We’re not going to feed it for
you to breed it.”
PAWS Atlanta, Georgia’s oldest
no-kill animal shelter, is celebrating
its 50th anniversary on April 16,
from 3 to 7 p.m., at Historic Fourth
Ward Park, 680 Dallas St. NE,
Atlanta.
The event will feature food
trucks, artists, vendors, live
entertainment, dog activities,
Creature Comforts Beer and a
lantern-type parade on the beltline.
“So much of this 50th
[anniversary] is to honor our
adopters,” McDonald said. “We
love when someone from 10 years
ago comes back and tells us how
much they love their dog or if...
they come back to adopt another
animal.”
“There’s so many that come
back and say ‘my mom or my aunt
volunteered here 20 years ago,”’
she said.
ST0NECREST Continued From Page 1A
manufacturing, [and] for green
opportunities.
“No one’s paying us any
attention,” Lary said. “Now we
get a chance to sell the wares
of the Stonecrest corridor.”
Stonecrest will be attractive
for businesses because it has
“a commercial and industrial
park that’s friendly, that [has]
greenspace available, that has
available land and has available
stores and warehousing space,”
Lary said.
If Senate Bill 208, the
Stonecrest legislation, is
signed by the governor and
approved by voters, the new
city would be run by a mayor
and five-member city council.
Additionally, Stonecrest, which
could begin in May 2017, would
start off with three municipal
services: planning and zoning,
parks and recreation, and
code enforcement. The other
services, including police and
fire rescue services, would
continue to be performed by
DeKalb County.
Lary said the next step
for cityhood proponents is
to “continue to inform our
neighbors and...the business
and industrial community on
why we’re doing this [and] what
the advantages are.”
The “most important thing...
we have to let the general
public [know is that] there are
no new taxes and there’s not a
double tax,” Lary said, adding
that tax increases would have
to be approved by residents of
the proposed city.
Lary said one reason
Stonecrest has made it as far
as it has, while other proposed
cities, such as LaVista Hills
and Greenhaven, have not is
because Stonecrest proponents
have worked with the county.
“The reason that we’ve
been so successful so far is
we’ve taken the approach
of having a partnership with
DeKalb County,” Lary said,
citing the many meetings
Stonecrest proponents have
had with county officials.
“That’s where, quite frankly,
some of the other places have
run into a problem because
they considered it to be an
adversarial relationship with the
county,” Lary added.
Lary said he has high hopes
for Stonecrest.
“If you can get people to
live, work, play, worship [and]
shop in your community, it’s
going to grow and it’s going to
do well,” Lary said. “It takes a
brand to be able to do that. It
takes a new brand with new
people with new ideas and a
fresh start.”