We are a large group of concerned animal lovers who are deeply troubled by the issues of animal overpopulation, abandonment, and abuse in our county.

Recent revelations of neglect and abuse at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter have highlighted the urgent need to address the fate of abandoned animals.

We are not a small group, 45% of households have dogs and 32% of households have cats, which is 1.5 dogs and 1.8 cats per household.  Daily, we witness heartbreaking stories of lost, abandoned, and abused animals on social media. It is a sad existence for these creatures, who depend on us for their care and well-being. We believe we can — and must — do better.

Our primary objective is to significantly reduce the number of animals being abandoned, particularly cats and dogs. We recognize the efforts of the Animal Control and Shelter and other local organizations, like the Humane Society and AARF, which are doing their utmost to accommodate the animals in their care. However, we also understand that these shelters operate under tight budgets and rely heavily on public support. Many volunteers and foster families play an essential role in this effort, but we believe more can be done at the community and county level to improve the situation.

To that end, we would like to propose the following solutions for your consideration:

Pet License/Tax: We suggest reintroducing a pet tax where each pet owner would pay a nominal fee of $20-25 for every dog they own with discounts available for pets that are spayed or neutered. The funds generated could supplement the county's budget to provide better resources for the shelter and trained animal control officers to enforce cruelty and unlicensed breeders.

Licensing Breeders: It is crucial to regulate breeders more effectively. We propose requiring all breeders to obtain a license and pay appropriate fees, with facility checks for compliance. A more substantial fine should be imposed on first-time offenders, along with a mandate for 25 hours of supervised community service at a shelter. Subsequent violations would incur progressively higher penalties. Our goal is not to penalize pet owners whose animals accidentally breed, but to deter irresponsible breeding practices, particularly those associated with puppy mills.  Provide more spay/neuter facilities and transportation for low-income families who do not have transportation

Spaying/Neutering Procedures: Forsyth County could have a giant impact on animal overpopulation through spay/neuter.  We propose that the county offer free spay/neuter for the public would save money in the end.  It would reduce the county’s financial burden for the animal shelter, reduce the need for law enforcement to respond to cruelty, neglect, dog vs.people incidents such as dog bites and rabies, auto vs. dogs incidents, and officers to catch all the abandoned and loose animals.

Create a Foster Program and Positive Volunteer Program at Forsyth Animal Shelter: We recommend implementing the Foster Program by creating a registry of foster families within the county. This initiative could help ensure that animals spend less time in shelters and receive the love and attention they need plus socialization which facilitates adoptions.  

Since most of the volunteers were driven away by the previous shelter management.  We believe community members should work with the county to develop a new volunteer program.  

Animals bring us immense joy and companionship, and they deserve our compassion in return. We hope to discuss these proposals further and work together to create a more humane and supportive environment for our community's animals.

Our county can find successful programs in other counties or states and duplicate their programs.  Some counties like Mecklenburg have thriving volunteer and foster programs.  In addition to volunteer programs we could find counties with great programs for:

Pet licensing fees

Licensing Breeders

Spay/Neuter

We want to help; within the animal welfare community we have several individuals that have the expertise in program development that are willing to work with you.

Thank you for considering our suggestions. We look forward to the opportunity to present our ideas in more detail.