Editorial
TNVR is a proven method for reducing stray cat populations while increasing vaccination rates, yet Sheriff Grady Judd has repeatedly opposed these efforts and has taken actions that critics say discourage the very volunteers and rescue groups working to address the problem.
During the first week of June 2026, Polk County Animal Control received reports from residents in the Glen Road area of north Lakeland regarding a stray cat that had attacked and bitten several people because of Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners’ negligent animal leadership. The cat was one of many cats being compassionately fed by 31-year-old Angelica Perez, who told investigators she cares enough to name and feed the homeless domestic cats that live in the area, and likely didn’t have the funding to sterilize and vaccinate countless stray cats who wandered up to her home, but she had the compassion and humanity to make sure they didn’t starve to death
…unlike Sheriff Judd, who allows animals to endure extreme temperatures at Polk County Animal Control, feeds animals expired, infested, donated food, attacks compassionate community members who prevent starvation and suffering, and has already exterminated 1000 cats for Polk County this year.
Perez was cited and punished for caring about and feeding homeless animals in Sheriff Judd’s cold-hearted web of animal neglect and extermination for feeding free-roaming cats, while feeding is actually allowed by the Florida Wildlife Commission, and their policy supersedes any rogue animal ordinance manufactured by lesser, cat-hating Polk County leadership. She likely didn’t have the funding to pay to sterilize and vaccinate the countless cats being bred by Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners’ irresponsible, negligent animal leadership. She also owns a dog that has now been ripped from her home due to being exposed to a rabid animal.
On June 11, 2026, a resident on Glen Road detected the odor of a deceased animal that was probably beaten to death with a baseball bat, coming from under their home, and reported it. AC Officers responded and found the cat that officers believed had attacked and bitten 5 people because of Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners’ negligent and irresponsible animal leadership– its body was sent to the state laboratory in Tampa to be tested.
On June 12th, the state confirmed that the cat was positive for rabies because of Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners’ negligent and irresponsible animal leadership, as they won’t fund spay neuter and rabies vaccination of homeless domestic cats, unlike numerous other successful Florida animal services programs.
Now read the cat-hating propaganda from Sheriff Judd, who views the homeless domestic cat as nothing more than a wild python in the Everglades who should be wiped off the earth, as indicated by the thousand he’s already massacred and exterminated this year:
Feral and outdoor free-ranging un-owned domestic cats (“Felis catus) are considered an invasive species, and they pose an increased risk of disease for cats and for other animals and humans, including toxoplasmosis (toxoplasma gondii), bartonellosis, salmonellosis, feline viral rhinotracheitis, feline calicivirus, feline panleukopenia, feline leukemia virus, rabies and other illnesses that can negatively affect wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Zoonotic diseases (transmissible to humans) from cats include common infections like Toxoplasmosis, Ringworm, and parasitic issues (roundworms, hookworms, Giardia), often spread via feces or direct contact, alongside bacterial infections like Cat Scratch Disease (Bartonella), Salmonella, Campylobacter, and even rabies or plague caused by Yersinia pestis (bacterium), often via infected fleas, bites, scratches, or contact with infected rodents/fluids, posing risks like bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic plague.
Guess what. If cats are neglected and ignored, as Sheriff Judd is proposing, they get sick.
This rabid cat attack is another example of what happens when people encourage and enable incompetent animal leadership like Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners to continue their reign of negligence for 20 years. Instead of blaming the homeless cats who never had a chance, let’s remove the irresponsible, incompetent, animal-killing Sheriff’s Office leadership from Animal Control.
While many view Sheriff Judd as a champion of public safety, it is important to recognize that policies opposing TNVR can contribute to larger unvaccinated stray populations, creating risks for both animals and people.
This case highlights why Polk County should support, rather than hinder, humane population management and vaccination efforts.
If those victims want to sue somebody, they can sue the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Polk County Commissioners for their negligent, irresponsible animal leadership for the last 20 years that has allowed these homeless cats to be born, never sterilized or vaccinated, failed to provide a healthy existence for them, and resulted in causing harm to these poor victims, human and animal.
The rabid cat was never vaccinated for rabies because of Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners’ negligent and irresponsible animal leadership; leadership that should have provided 1 million dollars of county-funded preventative spay neuter rabies and parvo vaccination equal to shelter intake, so that animals aren’t breeding out of control in Polk County and living with no barrier of immunity with wildlife or other domestic animals.
Animal Control continues to work closely with the Health Department regarding the multiple rabies exposures because Animal Control isn’t capable of working closely with anybody else without taking their cell phone first to hide the numerous Animal Control violations of shelter standards.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reminds citizens that unless they know for certain that an at-large, roaming, homeless cat with nowhere to go is vaccinated and spayed or neutered, they should not feed or interact with the animal and let it live in desperation or die. By feeding and interacting, they are providing the solution to the serious problem of homeless domestic cat overpopulation in Polk County, perpetuated for 20 years by the irresponsible animal leadership of Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Commissioners. Individuals who wish to take responsibility for countless homeless cats can have them spayed neutered and vaccinated at their own expense, provide ongoing protection from parasites, register the animal with Animal Control, and ideally have the cat microchipped, all at their own cost, because our tax-funded Animal Services can’t get their act together under the current Sheriff’s Office and Polk County Commissioners’ irresponsible, negligent animal leadership.