Special to the Herald
SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County Animal Shelter Director Lorna Shelton continues to aim at a laudable target that the knows is virtually impossible to hit.
“While I haven’t reached the goal of a no-kill shelter, my team and I have gotten us to low-kill status,” she said Jan. 7 while reflecting on her stint at the helm of the facility.
“We have accomplished a lot in 10 years. Effingham County (has become a) frontrunner, mentor and inspiration for other counties to follow suit.”
Effingham County was overflowing with unhealthy and unwanted animals when Shelton accepted her post. The shelter took in more than 2,500 animals the year before she arrived and about 1,600 of them were euthanized.
“Animals that were lucky enough to get adopted were not altered or vaccinated before leaving so -- in a few short months -- the shelter was receiving their offspring,” Shelton recalled. “People were allowed to just dump their pets at the taxpayers’ expense. We were a very high-kill shelter.
“We euthanized over a thousand cats yearly. Can you imagine the mental toll that takes on the staff?”
Fortunately, enormous life-saving progress has been made. In 2024, only 267 of the 691 animals that were received by the shelter were euthanized. Plus, pets that are adopted no longer leave the shelter without being spayed or neutered.
Shelton said teamwork is the key to controlling the pet population.
“Our goals cannot be reached without the help of the Effingham County Board of Commissioners, Effingham County Humane Enforcement or, most importantly, the citizens,” she explained.
The shelter has saved countless felines through its Barn Cat Program. Funded largely by Helping Out Pets in Effingham (HOPE), the program is designed to find homes for adult cats that are difficult or impossible to place as indoor pets. These animals are typically stray, feral, or semi-feral and have had limited contact with humans.
Instead of being kept as house pets, program participants (cats) are spayed or neutered and relocated to agricultural properties, barns, warehouses or workshops where they can live outdoors and help control the rodent population. They are also “ear tipped,” a universal sign for an altered feral feline.
More than 3,000 cats have been altered since the Barn Cat Program kicked off in 2018.
HOPE paid $4,828 in Barn Cat Program fees in 2024. Its total monetary contribution to the shelter exceeded $20,000, including funding for vaccinations, tests, cleaning supplies, seven microchip scanners, food and a “catio”.
The Savannah Kennel Club, Humane Society of Savannah, Better Together Georgia, Carlson & Riggs Funeral Home, Down & Dirty Dog Training, Coastal Pet Rescue, and the 2 Black Dogs Foundation were other major benefactors in 2024.
In 2025, the shelter intends to continue to ensure the humane treatment of animals by educating citizens, helping update the county’s animal ordinances, and distributing available resources. It also plans to establish a memory garden and upgrade its building at 307 GA Hwy 119 South in Springfield.
