Why are Polk County taxpayers paying for shelter policies that kill cats instead of funding humane prevention?
Public records show Polk County Animal Control has taken in 𝟔𝟐,𝟒𝟐𝟗 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 since 2018—and killed 𝟑𝟏,𝟒𝟒𝟗 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. That’s 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟.
Polk County alone has killed more cats in 8 years than the entire state of Florida has removed pythons in more than 25. That’s nearly 𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, compared to about 1,000 pythons a year — and the state calls pythons a crisis.
Sheriff Judd compared outdoor community cats to snakes. So let’s compare the results:
8 years of killing cats — and they’re still coming, year after year.
25+ years of removing pythons — and they’re still established, still breeding.
You can’t kill your way out of reproduction. Judd is proving it — in his own county, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 — for the entire state of Florida and the Florida Sheriffs Association to see.
Stop the cycle before it starts. Stop killing cats. Fund prevention.
If you don’t like cats, you shouldn’t be in charge of them. Period.
𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐲. 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐍𝐕𝐑 (𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩-𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐕𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧)
