By Vicky Quintanilla
We are writing to address your article titled “Animal advocates aim for Polk County to be a no-kill county in 2025”, published on 01/02/2025.
Your article is misleading as it fails to mention that Polk County has three shelters: the Humane Society of Polk County, SPCA Florida, and Polk County Animal Control, managed by Sheriff Grady Judd. https://bestfriends.org/no-kill-2025/animal-shelter-statistics/florida?:linktarget=_self&:embed=yes
Unfortunately, Polk County Animal Control leads Florida’s sheriff-managed shelters in euthanasia rates, ranking as the #1 kill shelter in the state. https://www.abcactionnews.com/…/polk-county-continues… The article doesn’t highlight the critical fact that Polk County Animal Control killed 61% of cats in 2023 and 52% of dogs in 2024, continuing a pattern of high euthanasia rates. https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/…/shelter-level…/
By contrast, the Humane Society and SPCA have euthanasia rates of just 1-2%. To reach an average live release rate of 90% across the three shelters, Polk County Animal Control would still be killing 30% of the animals making it through those doors.
Moreover, Sheriff Judd rejected two offers for help: one from Best Friends Animal Society and another from the Jacksonville Humane Society, which offered $20 million to build a new, better-equipped facility. These offers were turned down.
https://drive.google.com/…/1wJpDj49Ly3KoMaaVYOuDr2uaSfU…
To everyone in our community, it is unclear how Polk County Animal Control receives a budget of $5.5 million yet does not allocate this funding in the same way as most other no-kill shelters. How is this money being spent? This would make an excellent topic for your journalistic investigation.
We urge you to provide a more thorough analysis and include these important facts in your coverage. As a journalist, you have the opportunity to inform and encourage change for the thousands of animals at risk in Polk County Animal Control.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.