{"id":38775,"date":"2023-11-12T21:04:11","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T02:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=38775"},"modified":"2023-11-12T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T02:04:17","slug":"polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-avid-photographer-and-cat-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/11\/12\/polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-avid-photographer-and-cat-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd avid photographer and cat killer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editorial<\/p>\n\n\n

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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is an avid photographer. It\u2019s his favorite hobby outside of his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judd loves taking landscape and wildlife photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really, really love my photography,\u201d Judd said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the 180-degree opposite of what I do for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheriff Grady Judd has gained national attention for having the #1 ranked kill animal shelter in Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida currently ranks fourth in the nation for the number of animals euthanized. While many animal control agencies are on track to becoming no-kill shelters, there\u2019s one county that has led the state in euthanization rates for at least three years now \u2014 that\u2019s Polk County and Sheriff Grady Judd<\/p>\n\n\n

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The problem is Sheriff Grady Judd is an asshole and is power-hungry. And the Polk County Commissioners are afraid of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Judd refuses to answer any questions about his animal services division, why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCats kill birds \u2013 We kill cats\u201d, is the motto of Polk County Animal Services.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judd is running for reelection he\u2019s raised:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributions<\/strong> $302,640.53<\/td>In-Kind<\/strong> $11,974.63<\/td>Expenditures<\/strong> $579.71<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s time to let the voters know about the real Grady Judd!!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judd is also selling the dead cats, why is it because of the money or there is no room in the county dump next to the animal services buildings?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cat cadavers go to Bio Corporation<\/a> (a company that provides cadavers\/specimens to educational institutions).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bio Corporation<\/a> pays $10 per cat cadaver to the PCSO. Which means thousands of dollars in the coffers of the PCSO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpt from FL Statute 823.15<\/a>(1) Uncontrolled breeding results in the birth of many more puppies and kittens than are needed to provide pet animals to new owners or to replace pet animals that have died or become lost. This leads to many dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens being unwanted, becoming strays and suffering privation and death, being impounded and destroyed at great expense to the community, and constituting a public nuisance and public health hazard. It is therefore declared to be the public policy of the state that every feasible means be used to reduce the incidence of birth of unneeded and unwanted puppies and kittens. Determining which programs result in improved adoption rates and in reduced euthanasia rates for animals in shelters and animal control agencies is crucial to this effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every feasible means be used to reduce the incidence of birth of unneeded and unwanted puppies and kittens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and his staff have refused to follow the law but they were happy to email the\u00a0Lakeland Gazette<\/em>\u00a0the Florida Statute.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Capt. Steven Horstman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The FL Statute 823.15 even talks about Trapped, Neutered, Released (TNR) but Capt. Steven Horstman stated to the\u00a0Lakeland Gazette<\/em>\u00a0that Polk County Animal Services will \u201cNever have a TNR Program\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a better way than killing \u2013 better for cats and better for Polk County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the answer is this\u2026\u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR for short, is the only humane and effective approach to addressing outdoor cat populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through TNR, community cats are humanely trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear-tipped for identification, and returned to their outdoor homes to live out their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TNR is sound public policy. Scientific studies show that it effectively and humanely addresses the community cat population, reduces shelter intake and killing, and reduces calls to animal services, which saves taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly half of the 67 counties in Florida have some sort of TNR program on the books. But not Polk County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientific studies show that TNR ends the breeding cycle, meaning no new kittens are born outdoors while improving the lives and health of community cats. When cats are free from the burden of reproducing, their relationships improve with the people who live near them. And many diseases associated with reproduction, like cancer, are prevented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of communities, including many in Florida, have embraced TNR at the grassroots level or as official government policy. It is popular because it works, in rural and urban settings, cold and warm climates, and everywhere in between. Polk County has an opportunity to truly engage with compassionate people in its community to protect cats, reduce outdoor cat populations, and improve neighborhoods countywide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s An Easy Choice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People want to know their county has their back and is committed to forward-thinking, humane standards of care for animals. Polk County has the chance to choose this effective, nonlethal path forward. And it does not have to take the journey alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County must realize that the public will never support killing cats in mass and that any solution must be based on proven science and reflect the values of the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is an avid photographer. It\u2019s his favorite hobby outside of his job. Judd loves taking landscape and wildlife photos. \u201cI really, really love my… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[6711],"class_list":["post-38775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","tag-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-avid-photographer-and-cat-killer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38781,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38775\/revisions\/38781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}