Cherokee County

Counties seeing increase in dog bites since beginning of COVID-19 pandemic

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — For many of us, more time at home means more time with our pets.

But there is a downside. Experts are seeing a spike in the number of dog bites. In one metro county, officials say there has been a reported increase of 50% in cases.

At the Cherokee Animal Shelter, dogs are quarantined from the rest of the population because they attacked a person or another animal.

“In March. we had seven bite cases. The very next month as restrictions and lockdown tightened, it doubled our bite cases,” said Cherokee Animal Shelter Director Susan Garcia.

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Dog bites are up as people and their pets are spending more time together, at home in often stressful situations, but there are also attacks involving dogs outside.

“Some of the bite cases have been pretty severe on some children and everything,” Garcia said.

Garcia told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that dog attacks in Cherokee County fell as virus restrictions were lifted.

In other rural counties like Habersham, it's a different story according to lawyer and animal welfare activist Claudine Wilkins.

“One county reported a 50% increase in dog bites. They compared their numbers from the year before and it was literally double,” Wilkins said.

She told Regan that people adopting dogs during the pandemic may not realize what they're getting into, and forgo proper training, care and association with family and strangers.

“The dog wasn’t socialized, it might not have exercised that day, it might be stressed out. It’s feeding from our stress,” Wilkins said.

The staff at the shelter say the pandemic has a silver lining -- the demand for adoption is soaring and more dogs are finding homes than ever before.