False claims about pet deaths at Cobb County’s animal shelter are spreading on social media. The real numbers tell a different story.
🐕 Why It Matters: These wrong numbers are scaring pet owners and making people think the shelter is failing when staff are actually working hard to save animals.
📊 The Real Numbers: Cobb Animal Services shares all their data online for everyone to see. This year, the shelter has taken in 3,620 animals and found homes or rescues for 2,225 of them. That’s a much better picture than the fake post suggests.
🏠 What’s Happening: Like shelters everywhere, Cobb is dealing with too many animals and not enough homes. Money troubles are making it harder for families to keep their pets. But the shelter is fighting back with adoption events, mobile adoption trailers, and partnerships with rescue groups.
💡 How You Can Help: Director Steve Hammond says the goal is finding homes for every cat and dog. You can visit the shelter’s website, volunteer your time, donate supplies, or adopt a pet. The shelter needs the community’s help, not fear based on wrong information.
🔍 Between the Lines: The shelter’s live release rate is 86%, meaning most animals leave alive. The average stay is over 11 days, giving pets time to find families.
How to Read and Understand the News
Truth doesn’t bend because we dislike it.
Facts don’t vanish when they make us uncomfortable.
Events happen whether we accept them or not.
Good reporting challenges us. The press isn’t choosing sides — it’s relaying what official, verified sources say. Blaming reporters for bad news is like blaming a thermometer for a fever.
Americans have a history of misunderstanding simple things. In the 1980s, A&W rolled out a 1/3-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It failed because too many people thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If we can botch basic math, we can certainly misread the news.
Before dismissing a story, ask yourself:
- What evidence backs this?
- Am I reacting to facts or feelings?
- What would change my mind?
- Am I just shooting the messenger?
And one more: Am I assuming bias just because I don’t like the story?
Smart news consumers seek truth, not comfort.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
