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The city of LaFayette is currently in negotiation for a contract for animal control services with the Chattahoochee Humane Society in Valley. 

CHS currently offers animal control services to Valley, Lanett and Chambers County government. Because of the small population size, LaFayette is not required by law to provide animal control services which is why they have not already done a contract.

However, recently, the humane society has been in conversation with the city clerk and city attorney about a possible contract. 

The humane society is a 501 c3 organization. The shelter staff was recently awarded with a No-Kill Shelter designation by the Best Friends Foundation for their efforts in reducing euthanizations. 

“We are running on a shoestring budget, but basically Chambers County has contracted those for eight kennels. Currently, Lanett and Valley contract with us for four a piece,” said CHS Board President Dantz Fraser. 

The county is paying right at $6,400 for a month for eight kennels, Fraser said. 

The state requires that the shelter keep animals for a stray-hold period of seven days. The shelter staff keeps them for an additional seven days to see if they can get them adopted, rescued or fostered. 

“Over the past several years, we have been barely scraping by. We basically averaged $20,000 to $30,000 in annual loss, but those funds have been made up by the generous donations of our local citizens, plus some grants that we’ve received from best friends and other organizations,” Fraser said. 

Over the last few years, the shelter has seen a massive turnaround with not only its euthanizations but also its adoptions and fosters. A few years earlier, Fraser said, the shelter took about 4,000 animals a year, of which 85% were euthanized. 

Currently, CHS is taking in around 700 and the current euthanasia rate is under 4%.

Fraser added that staff try to avoid euthanization unless an animal shows aggression to people and other animals or has a debilitating health concern that keeps them from being adoptable. 

A couple of years ago, they had no fosters. Right now, they have about 25. As for adoptions, they only had 55 adoptions for the whole year 2022. This year, there have already been over 200 adoptions.

“Our organization has been in existence since 1973 when the textile company donated the site and the facility to the county with a specific service for operating a shelter,” Fraser said. “The textile company retains a right to take that facility back if we abandon it or quit using it for Animal Control Services.”

A few years ago, the county donated $25,000 to the shelter to the humane society, and then charged them $25,000 for the facility so that it belongs to the humane society rather than the county.

The shelter is staffed by 3-4 individuals and several volunteers. Currently, the staff is housing about 60 dogs in a 31 kennel shelter. 

“It’s a good place right now, our staff surprisingly several of them smile throughout the day. As you can imagine, they got pretty tough conditions for low pay, and they are dedicated, hard working folks,” Fraser said.