Animal shelters in Macon are operating beyond their capacity and animal shelter staff are struggling to keep up as the number of animals surrendered outnumber the animals that are adopted, according to statistics published by the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
The trend highlights a persistent problem for the animal welfare system in Macon: shelters are struggling to manage the overflow. Scott Bennett, the president of Southern Comfort Animal Rescue, says that the lack of space and shortage of volunteers leaves many dogs at his shelter with no care.
“I probably get 30 to 50 phone calls a day from people surrendering dogs, a lot of those calls I can’t even accept because of how much come up in a day,” he explains, “but yeah, we take in what we can. We’re limited with kennel space, so I keep some dogs in my own house; we’re just packed out full.”
Older animals make up most of the shelter populations in the Macon area, and for many, they will be euthanized if they are not adopted, according to Nationwide Animal Welfare Reform. Southern Comfort Animal Rescue is a no-kill shelter but Bennett says that his animals end up spending years in an overcrowded shelter without a loving home.
“Everybody says, I want a puppy because it’s easier to train them. These older dogs, they’re not broken, they’re not damaged. They’ve just been let down. They’ve been killed by our society and failed by the communities. So the more people would give some of these, these older dogs, a chance and realize that every shelter out there needs help. They need volunteers. They need fosters, donations, whatever,” says Bennett.
An investigation by Nationwide Animal Welfare Reform found that the total funding for animal welfare in 2025 was less than $1.2 million for Macon-Bibb County, which included total operating costs as well as salaries and equipment. The sheriff’s office received fifty times more funding and, despite a major budget increase for information technology and public safety, animal welfare did not see any increase from the previous year.
