MARIETTA - It is summertime, and that means more puppies and kittens are dropped off at Cobb County Animal Control, as well as private shelters.

But Don Bruce, operations manager at the shelter, said his staff is not about to make space by killing dozens of animals.

Earlier this week, Alexia Niketas, a member of the Homeless Pets Foundation in Marietta, circulated a desperate e-mail claiming that Cobb's shelter "has NO SPACE and people are still lined up to dump their dogs," and saying the shelter staff "doesn't want to have to choose who dies."

Bruce acknowledged calling that rescue group and asking its members to take some animals out of the shelter, but he said there was nothing unusually urgent about his request.

"It just means we need help," he said. "We need help every day. We were not about to put down a large number of animals. Rescue groups we deal with on a daily basis know we're not overcrowded."

Niketas acknowledged that her e-mail was "overly dramatic" in an effort to get people's attention.

"All the rescues are full, all the time. But when people see that animals are going to die, they move and get down there," she said. "My impression was that they were running out of room, and he didn't want to have to make any decisions to put down any great dogs. He was trying to save lives."

Niketas, 39, who lives in Smyrna and also practices law there, stressed that the shelter is not to blame for euthanizing animals.

"People have to know they have to get their dogs spayed and neutered. They can't dump a litter of puppies this year and do it again next year," she said. "Shelter staff are forced to make tough choices, because the public doesn't take responsibility by spaying and neutering."

Niketas, who said she had several media inquiries on Thursday, doesn't know why the circulation of her e-mail "got so out of hand" - though the animal population is out of hand, too. And she's glad her group got several animals out of the shelter.

"But the public is still going out and buying puppies, instead of going to the shelter and adopting. And when it gets to be too much trouble, or their dog gets old, they take it to the shelter," she said. "I wish people cared a little bit more."