Starting next month, Catoosa County Animal Control will no longer be offering animal adoption services on Saturdays.

Catoosa County Animal Control Director Sheree Horton said community support as well as partnerships with several animal rescue groups and weekday adoptions have significantly reduced the animal population at the shelter. Weekend adoptions have been less successful, she said, and the county can no longer support keeping the shelter open on Saturdays.

(READ MORE: Residents displaced after Lafayette, Georgia, apartment complex condemned, demolished)

“While we regret our decision to stop adoptions on Saturdays, the very low number of adoptions on weekends does not justify the need to staff our animal shelter six days a week,” said Horton. “We will continue to provide high quality animal services, including adoption, Monday through Friday and after hours emergency response on call.”

Catoosa County spokesperson John Pless said 194 pets have been adopted by Catoosa County Animal Control and 471 pets have been sent to certified rescue organizations on weekdays in 2020.

By comparison, 23 adoptions were made on Saturdays during that year.

(READ MORE: $ 10,000 reward offered for information after third house fire in Rossville)

So far for 2021, Pless said there had been 214 adoptions and 319 rescues carried out during the week. On Saturday there were nine adoptions.

“It’s less than one adoption per month,” he said. “We had 72 visitors on Saturdays this year and for the record, I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of these are people who stop on the way to the dump who let their children pet the animals but don’t adopt them and bring them home. “

Pless said staff are paid overtime to work on Saturdays, making it all the more difficult to justify keeping the doors open on Saturdays.

“The numbers are not there at the moment to support retaining staff and opening the facility on weekends,” he said.

It’s $ 60 to adopt a cat or dog at Catoosa County Animal Control Shelter. This price includes the cost of a sterilization / sterilization and a well-being assessment.

The refuge is located at 101 Allmond Trail in Ringgold and is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

(READ MORE: Residents of Catoosa to vote on tax district issue in November)

For more information, call 706-935-2454, visit catoosa.com or check out the Catoosa County Animal Control Facebook page.

Contact Kelcey Caulder at [email protected] or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.