Week Ending October 2, 2026
This week brought developments on several fronts for Gwinnett Animal Advocacy Alliance—from expanding our state-level advocacy, to Gwinnett County publicly acknowledging pet overpopulation, to continued concerns about shelter capacity and animals at risk.
Here's what happened this week.
🏛️ Taking Animal Welfare to the State Level
Our state advocacy work moved forward significantly this week.
On September 29, GAAA met with Georgia House candidate Jennifer Ambler to discuss animal welfare as a state policy issue—including shelter capacity, prevention, enforcement, irresponsible breeding, affordability, and the growing burden placed on local governments and shelters.
The conversation went extremely well, and Jennifer connected us with additional candidates interested in animal welfare issues.
We also finalized GAAA's Georgia General Assembly Animal Welfare Pledge, an 11-point commitment addressing spay/neuter funding, animal cruelty laws and enforcement, repeat offenders, responsible breeding, transparency and data, local-state collaboration, responsiveness to constituents, and public safety and education.
So far, Rep. Marvin Lim, Adam Cleveland, Juan Estrada and Sen. Sally Harrell have signed the pledge.
Next week, we have conversations scheduled with Adam Cleveland and Rep. Akbar Ali as our outreach to candidates and legislators continues.
Our goal isn't simply to discuss what is happening inside one shelter. We are looking at where state policy can help communities across Georgia address the systemic issues contributing to animal welfare challenges.
🗳️ October 18 Animal Advocates Meet & Greet
Our state-level advocacy isn't just happening behind the scenes—and we want you to be part of it.
GAAA is hosting an Animal Advocates Meet & Greet with Democratic Georgia legislators and candidates.
Sunday, October 18 | 4–6 PM
Mojitos at The Forum
5161 Peachtree Pkwy NW, Suite 630
Peachtree Corners, GA 30092
Rep. Marvin Lim, Rep. Farooq Mughal and Michelle Kang are among those who have confirmed plans to attend, with additional outreach underway.
This gathering will feature Democratic legislators and candidates, but GAAA's state advocacy is nonpartisan. We have been reaching out to candidates and elected officials from both parties, and we are working to organize a separate meet-and-greet with Republican legislators and candidates if there is enough interest.
If we want animal welfare to have a meaningful place in conversations during this election, we need to demonstrate that there is an engaged community paying attention and ready to participate.
A strong turnout sends a clear message: animal advocates want a voice in the policies and decisions that affect animals and the people who care for them.
🐾 Gwinnett Publicly Acknowledges Pet Overpopulation
One of the most significant moments this week came during Gwinnett County Community Services' 2027 business plan presentation.
When asked about one of the biggest challenges facing Animal Welfare, Animal Welfare Division Director Katrina Hellman identified pet overpopulation, describing it as “one of the toughest things that we've been challenged with.”
For months, GAAA has emphasized that shelter overcrowding cannot be addressed solely through adoption, fostering and rescue. Those efforts are essential, but they primarily address animals after they have already entered the system.
Long-term progress requires addressing the source of the problem through prevention—including accessible spay/neuter services, responsible pet ownership, effective enforcement and policies that reduce preventable shelter intake.
The presentation also highlighted improvements at the Bill Atkinson Animal Welfare Center and efforts to make volunteer orientation more accessible.
We are encouraged to hear County leadership publicly recognize the overpopulation problem.
🐾 GAAA Heads to HavenCon
This weekend, GAAA will be at HavenCon on October 3, continuing our work to connect directly with the community.
Saturday, October 3 | 2–5 PM
Lilburn Main Street
Our new community-resource brochure is ready, and we'll be talking with residents about animal welfare resources, advocacy and ways to get involved.
Community engagement is an important part of advocacy. Policy work matters, but so does making sure residents know what resources are available and how they can participate in improving animal welfare in Gwinnett.
🐾 Animals at Risk
Last week, 13 dogs faced a September 29 euthanasia deadline at Gwinnett Animal Welfare and all are safe for now.
Today, we received an urgent plea from the shelter for 10 dogs needing rescue commitment, foster placement, or adoption by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 7.
We are glad to see the shelter proactively reaching out for help before the deadline.
At the same time, 10 more dogs facing another placement deadline just days after the previous group of 13 underscores that Gwinnett's capacity problem is far from resolved.
GAAA will continue encouraging the County to use all of its public-facing platforms—not only rescue networks—to make sure residents know when animals are at risk.
🐾 The Paw Print Takeaway
This week showed why animal welfare requires work at every level—from state policy and local government to shelter operations and community involvement.
There is progress worth acknowledging, and there are challenges that remain.
GAAA will continue working for prevention, transparency, accountability and meaningful solutions that address the causes—not simply the consequences—of pet overpopulation.
