On April 21, 2026, Commissioner Bill Braswell made public statements that should concern every citizen.
This is not just about animal welfare.
This is not just about Facebook comments.
This is not just about ethics complaints or speaking to the press.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
The First Amendment is the foundation of every other constitutional right. Without it, people cannot expose abuse, demand accountability, or challenge government misconduct.
When elected officials use social media for government communication, they do 𝗻𝗼𝘁 get to block citizens simply because those citizens criticize them.
Government officials cannot retaliate against citizens for criticizing them, speaking to the media, or filing legitimate ethics complaints. Those are protected activities.
𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻—𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻.
When a public official suggests denying public resources or county support because citizens “went about this the wrong way,” that raises serious constitutional concerns.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.
𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀.
If we cannot defend our right to speak, we cannot defend the animals—period.
That should alarm everyone.
At the April 21, 2026, Polk County Commission meeting, Commissioner Bill Braswell made several comments about animal welfare advocates. Because Animal Defenders of Polk County, FL has been mistakenly associated with other individuals and groups, we feel it is important to provide context, clarification, and corrections where needed.
Animal Defenders is not affiliated with the advocates referenced by Commissioner Braswell or their newly formed group.
We agree that public advocacy should be responsible, accurate, and solution-focused. We also believe elected officials should address the actual issues: Polk County Animal Control’s shelter outcomes, the lack of county-supported spay/neuter access, the absence of TNVR/community cat program, and the need for transparency and modern shelter practices.
Points of Clarification:
•TLC PetSnip is still in business. Angie Lorio and Shannon Medina from Polk County Bully Project are now on the board. Polk County Bully Project has been one of the most active and credible rescue partners pulling dogs from Polk County Animal Control, and organizations doing that level of lifesaving work should not be dismissed based on outdated information.
•Commissioner Braswell appeared to confuse Best Friends Animal Society with Carl Icahn or another outside entity. Best Friends Animal Society has no known connection to Carl Icahn; it was founded by a group of animal welfare advocates in Utah and is one of the major national organizations working with shelters on lifesaving programs.
This level of confusion is concerning, especially considering Best Friends Animal Society invested nearly $600,000 in Polk County and provided years of hands-on support before withdrawing due to the county’s unwillingness to implement proven lifesaving programs.
County officials should verify these facts before making public statements that influence policy decisions.
- A majority of the rescue communities do not consider PETA the standard for modern sheltering or community cat policy. More relevant guideposts include veterinary shelter medicine experts, UF Shelter Medicine, Best Friends Animal Society, Maddie’s Fund, and peer-reviewed research on community cat programs. UF Shelter Medicine has published and highlighted research on TNR and Return-to-Field programs in Florida shelters, including a 2025 study specifically examining how Florida shelters use these programs. UF also highlighted research showing that high-intensity TNR reduced preventable cat deaths over a 10-year period while reducing free-roaming cat populations.
•Commissioner Braswell referenced Florida’s nonnative species statute as though TNVR is illegal. That is not accurate. At minimum, this is a disputed interpretation, not a settled statewide prohibition. If TNVR were categorically illegal in Florida, it would not be openly operated, funded, or permitted by multiple Florida county and municipal animal services agencies.
•TNVR is not “dumping cats.” It is a structured animal management program involving humane trapping, sterilization, rabies vaccination, ear-tipping, return to the original location, and ongoing colony management.
•TNVR is supported by multiple Florida counties, including Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Hernando, Sumter, Lake, Clay, Seminole, Pinellas, Broward, Miami-Dade, Marion, Duval, Brevard, and Volusia (to name a few). These programs are publicly acknowledged, supported, and permitted by local governments.
•TNVR is not unique to Florida. It is widely used across the United States and in other countries as a humane and effective approach to managing community cat populations. In many jurisdictions, policies and local ordinances support nonlethal management and place limitations on indiscriminate trapping or killing of healthy outdoor cats.
•It is not credible to frame this as a simple “cats versus wildlife” issue while ignoring the broader impacts of habitat destruction, land clearing, and displacement of native species. Community cat management should be part of a balanced animal welfare and environmental strategy, not used as justification to kill cats by default.
•Killing cats after shelter impoundment does not solve overpopulation. It creates intake, holding, staffing, and disposal costs while leaving the breeding cycle intact. TNVR prevents future litters, reduces nuisance behaviors, vaccinates cats, and keeps unsocialized cats out of shelters where they are unlikely to be adopted and ultimately killed.
•Animal welfare is community welfare. A majority of people consider their pets to be family, and many are not adopting irresponsibly. They are rescuing animals directly off the street. These are individuals who never intended to take on an additional pet but step in anyway, often at their own expense. Accessible, affordable services (especially spay and neuter) are essential, particularly for low-income residents who are often the same people doing rescue work.
•The core issue is pet overpopulation. Without addressing the source, intake will continue to rise and outcomes will not improve. Proven solutions include accessible spay and neuter programs, stronger accountability for irresponsible breeding, and implementing policies that have already been successful in surrounding counties. These approaches reduce intake, lower costs, and save lives.
Proven Strategies That Reduce Shelter Kill Rates
- Pet Retention Programs
Instead of automatically accepting surrendered animals, shelters work directly with pet owners to resolve issues such as behavior, fencing, or temporary hardship so pets can remain in their homes. - Preventative Services
Providing free or low-cost veterinary care, vaccinations, spay/neuter services, and pet food assistance reduces the number of animals entering the shelter system in the first place. - Targeted Adoptions (Right Match Approach)
Animals are matched with adopters based on lifestyle compatibility, focusing on long-term success and reducing return rates not just moving animals out quickly. - Expanded Foster Networks
A strong foster system allows animals to live in homes instead of kennels, reducing stress, improving outcomes, and increasing overall shelter capacity. - Community Education & Partnerships
Public outreach emphasizes responsible pet ownership and connects residents with resources, shifting from a punitive model to a supportive, community-based approach. - Managed Intake
Rather than taking in every animal immediately, shelters prioritize urgent cases while providing alternatives and support to others preventing overcrowding and reducing unnecessary deaths.
We urge the Polk County Board of County Commissioners and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to review the data, engage with experts, and visit surrounding counties to better understand what is working. We commend Commissioner Michael Scott for his willingness to explore these solutions.
Disclaimer: This transcript has been lightly edited to remove filler words. Minor grammatical inconsistencies may remain.
From Commissioner Bill Braswell (April 21, 2026):
“Mrs. Bourque, this isn’t directed to you, but it is in a way, but not just you. I was expecting a group of your friends there to be here today. They got their wish. They got the front page of the paper, but especially the lady from Seminole County who keeps coming and talking about $50,000 this and $20 million is.
I think it’s important to put all this in context, cause I don’t think she has any context to put it in. She just heard some numbers. So I think the first time this board had anyone come forward to talk about animal control, it was the bully project (Polk County Bully Project). And they, this has been several years ago. They came to us, they did it right. They came to each individual commissioner. We sat down, we listened to what they had to say. Not only did they have stuff to say, they had suggested solutions, they had good ideas going forward, how to, how to deal with some of the issues. I had several meetings with them and eventually pulled in, a lady from TLC pet snips. And I don’t remember if she was a vet, the owner, office manager, whatever but we came up with an idea of a $50,000 a year voucher for sterilization for animals, basically for people.
The idea behind it was people who couldn’t afford sterilization would be able to afford it. That’s when I found out TLC pet snips at that time was doing a lot of highly discounted sterilizations for the county. And I don’t, I don’t recall the details, but it would be like a $50 voucher for each person. And TLC, if they did it, it would be free or maybe $5 or $10 for the person and they could take the voucher anywhere and, you know, it would apply toward the bill. And we’re going down that path. And then all of a sudden they went radio silent. And I never heard anything back from either one of them.
Then I heard rumors of the scandal that was going on there or a scandal going on there. I know Doctor Weedon, who was in here before, he I believe quit or was working there and quit or whatever. All the staff quit, everybody quit and quite honestly, I wasn’t interested enough to follow up on it to see what that was all about. Now fast forward to just in the last few months, it sounds like it was probably some money being stolen or something like that kind of scandal. I believe somebody’s been recently arrested for what was happening back then. And with that said, this board is never gonna touch anything TLC pet snip brings forward. I mean I don’t even know if they exist, quite frankly, as a company anymore. But they they’ve got issues over there. They had people stealing money, and we’re certainly not gonna put any taxpayer money into an organization that can’t control the money that it gets.
The other number she’s tossed around is $20 million. And I believe the story in the paper today alludes to Grady was approached by these people, but I don’t think that’s accurate. The $20 million came about after the TLC Pet Snips/Bully Project thing dropped by the wayside. I get a random call from somebody in Jacksonville. I think she was the director of the Humane Society or SPCA or something up there in Duvall County. She claimed that she could bring a huge check to Polk County to redo our animal control. And when somebody says they can give us a big check, I’m interested in hearing what she had to say. So we did a couple of video conference calls with the Icahn family.
I know who Carl Icahn is and he’s a piece of crap. These are not good people. Carl Icon made a living in the 70’s and 80’s buying up so much stock in a corporation, forcing them to put him on the board, taking control of the company, bankrupting the company, stealing the company’s, the employees pension fund, which you could do back in those days, and putting tens of thousands of people, tens of thousands of people out of work. Him and Frank Lorenzo had a contest of seeing how many people they could put on the street. So even though it was Carl Icahn and Carl Icahn’s money, if he wants to write a check to Polk County, I’ll listen to him. So knowing what I knew about him and what I expected…
Now in Mrs. Quintanilla’s ethics complain against me. One of the things she brings up is the Best Friends Animal Society. I don’t know if that’s the name of what Carl Icahn’s outfit was called. I thought they were called, IPaws. It may be what she calls them, regardless these people came, we had several conversations and yeah they had $20 million. But you know, as what I would expect from a guy like him, there were so many strings attached. Basically what was gonna happen, they would, give the county $20 million and take control of the county employees, the county assets, everything related to animal control. And it would be run by them and pay for by us. Well, that’s obvious, I don’t think that’s legal, but that was obviously a non starter for us. So we had several conversations to that effect and that was non negotiable for them. And it sounded like a Carl Icahn kind of deal, you know, where he works his way in and, you know, gets control of something and does whatever he wants to do with it.
So I wanted to put those two issues in context. What I don’t understand is you guys, your group comes here every meeting, not so much today, but normally, to talk to us. Why aren’t you doing? I mean, there’s 20 million dollars out there, somebody’s offering. I mean, if it was me, I’d be pursuing that. Give me 10 million and let me run it with 10 million and, we’ll set up our own animal control or do something productive.
But that doesn’t seem to be what’s in the cards here, seems to be more about getting on TV. I noticed every time Vicky Quintanilla or Maria Barrero have an opportunity to notify the press, notify the television, they’re gonna say something, they’re gonna do something. It seems like they wanna just be on TV and see themselves. They’re missing an opportunity today.
Another way they’ve done this is filing ethics complaints. I’ve had several filed against me. Mrs. Quintanilla, of course, they’re all shot down pretty quick. But her allegation is I actively lead a coordinated conspiracy to protect Grady Judd’s career. I think anybody who knows Grady Judd probably doesn’t know me and knows that I don’t need to protect Grady Judd’s career.
What I really think it’s about is when I get on Facebook and I block them, that drives them crazy. But I have to block them. I can’t put pictures of my grandkids on Facebook anymore because your group post so much vulgar, profane nonsense when I’ve got pictures of my grandkids on there, that I just block him, and I’ll continue to block them. Ms. Barrero, same thing, she doesn’t like me blocking her on Facebook. Said that was unconstitutional, whatever. The fact is that what these guys are, they’re Facebook warriors. They’re out there not really doing anything that I see. They’re just running their mouth on Facebook.
And this is the part that really gets me. You guys are here for TNR. When I heard about this way back with the Bully Project, I didn’t understand it then, I still don’t understand it now. Why would you take this animal? It’s something’s wrong with him. He needs vaccinations, gonna sterilize them. Probably got some kind of injury, teeth knocked out, broken leg, whatever, you know, take this thing and patch it up and then throw it right back where it got mangled, chewed up by a dog, hit by a car. It makes no sense, makes no sense whatsoever. And what’s really surprised me about that is PETA agrees of all the people on the planet that understand the ethical treatment and sometimes they take it to an extreme. They certainly see TNR for what it is. It’s not an ethical way of dealing with animals. And I know you guys will come in here and say, but we’ve got all this literature that says, well, every time you do that, I can produce something that says it doesn’t work because it doesn’t work. I mean, it’s just, it’s just, that’s the way it is, you know, and if it does work, you’ve got to get 80-90% participation with the animals. And a county this size that’s never gonna happen.
The other part I think that is being missed- there are two state statutes that I guess you would say apply to people who dump cats out. One is 828.13 the one that I, I’ll read here is 379.231. This is regulation of non native animals. It’s unlawful to import for sale, or use or to release within this state any species of the animal kingdom not native to Florida, unless otherwise, unless authorized by FWC. So when you take a cat in and you do whatever you do to him and you dump them back out, well, technically you’re breaking the law, which is a level three violation, what I guess that’s a misdemeanor. So the sheriff is aware of this. I don’t know when he will or if he will crack down on this, but it’s certainly something that your fellow cat people need to be aware of that. I mean, what they’re advocating for is against law and state of Florida, but I’m here to tell you right now, I’m here for two and a half years.
Again, all the stuff that your people post on Facebook, they’re not gonna vote for me next time. Well, I can’t be elected again. So, to their relief, but for the next two and a half years, I will do everything I can to make sure you guys get nothing, not a dime of county money, not at any assistance. You’ve gone about this the wrong way. You’re not coming here. You didn’t start out looking for solutions. You’re looking for show. You’re getting it, you’re on PGTV. Congratulations, but nothing from me. And I’ll advocate that my fellow commissioners do the same thing because you know, it’s just, it’s ridiculous what you guys wanna do and the way you’ve gone about it. That’s all I got.”
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Vote for his opponent. I did, but the political machine in Polk is strong.