UGA Law School grant seeks to reduce animal abuse and neglect

The University of Georgia is looking to provide more legal protections for our four-legged companions.

The University of Georgia School of Law is the recipient of a $1.35 million grant from a foundation based in New York City that provides money directed at the welfare of dogs.

UGA Law recently announced the grant, saying the money will be used “to help reduce the neglect and abuse of dogs.” The money’s use will be directed through the schools’ Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills (PAWS) and its director Lisa Milot.

The Stanton Foundation, established by former CBS president Frank Stanton, directs its grants to canine welfare along with non-animal endeavors like nuclear security and First Amendment rights.

The UGA Law school “is proud to be pioneering this important work and advancing legal education with the help of The Stanton Foundation,” noted Dean Peter “Bo” Rutledge in a statement announcing the grant.

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How the grant will help

The money will be used to expand on the law school's programs that already deal with animal welfare in Georgia. Plans also call for a one-credit course focusing on animal welfare for law and undergraduate students.

Milot said a proposed one-credit course on animal welfare would likely attract students. She said the animal welfare clinic that she teaches attracts more students that she can accept for the class.

PAWS works with jurisdictions throughout Georgia to prevent neglect and cruelty to animals, including hosting workshops to train animal control staff, law enforcement officers and others working with animal welfare cases, according to Milot.

PAWS also reviews local ordinances and sometimes drafts the language for ordinances to help various jurisdictions pass those laws, she said.

The law school program also has community programs to help residents in need with veterinary care for their pets in an affordable way, she said.

Numerous counties in Georgia don’t have basic care standards for animals, according to Milot. About one-third of Georgia’s counties don’t have local animal control ordinances; she noted Oglethorpe County as a local example. In Oglethorpe County, local law enforcement only enforce state laws addressing animal cruelty cases.

A personal interest in animal welfare

Milot is personally interested in the welfare of animals and has pet dogs that she adopted that were in shelters and slated to be euthanized as they were not considered adoptable.

She has been interested in laws on animal welfare since she was a partner in a law firm in Washington, D.C., where she was also a volunteer at a shelter.

“When I moved down here, I started volunteering at the shelter. I walked out the first time crying and decided I was going to change things,” she said.

She created a nonprofit called Athens Pets and in 2017 was given the opportunity to develop a practicum for the law school. Since that time, the euthanizing of cats and dogs at the animal control shelter in Athens has dramatically dropped, according to Milot.

She also began volunteering with animal control and going into the field with its officers.

“I learned a lot of it (abuse) wasn’t intentional and a lot could have been fixed simply with having resources available,” she said.

Milot said she began putting an emphasis on prevention and trying to keep animals in good homes.