The Humane Society for Greater Savannah (HSGS) was recently named a recipient of one of Best Friends Animal Society’s Shelter Collaborative grants that aim to work with local animal shelters in an attempt to take the country to a “no-kill” status in 2025.
The Humane Society for Greater Savannah is a no-kill shelter and, with the Shelter Collab grant, will lead a regional effort covering 10 counties to understand what problems exist, what resources are needed and what solutions can be created to help those county shelters achieve no-kill status as well. The Humane Society for Greater Savannah is also pleased to announce the hiring of Shelter Outreach Program Manager Allyson Short who will be overseeing the initiative.
"As we near 2025, we understand that collaboration and partnership between shelters will be a key component to get the State of Georgia to no-kill. Best Friends Animal Society Shelter Collaborative program is based on creating momentum and support to make no-kill a reality for the state,” said Best Friends Animal Society Senior Director, Lifesaving Programs Fraily Rodriguez. “There are amazing organizations like the Humane Society for Greater Savannah that have achieved no-kill that with our support can provide the same tenacity and effort to help others reach no-kill.”
HSGS will work with other “mentor shelters” throughout the state including the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia and Thomasville Humane Society through the Better Together Georgia initiative to share resources, collaborate on proposed ideas and brainstorm solutions. The grant will then serve as a way to coordinate and fund new programs that are created as a result. The grant is in place until the end of 2025.
“We are very excited and thankful for this opportunity to grow our relationships with and fund new programs at shelters in our region. Collaboration, funding, veterinary care and training are vital to increasing the number of positive outcomes for animals in our region” said HSGS Executive Director Sean Griffin.
No-kill is a benchmark that represents a shelter that saves 90 percent of the cats and dogs coming through the doors. Typically, no more than 10 percent of animals entering shelters are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed, hence where the percentage originated.
About the Humane Society for Greater Savannah
HSGS finds homes for 2,500 animals per year and performed nearly 9,000 spay/neuter surgeries last year at Pet Fix Savannah, our onsite spay/neuter clinic. HSGS is the largest no-kill shelter in Georgia outside of Atlanta and offers an array of programs to improve lifesaving efforts at all of our animal rescue organizations in the Savannah region.
About Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to 380,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 4,500 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org
