<\/a>ets can\u2019t either. When phones were banned at PCAC, their cries for help were silenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\ud83c\udd98\"](\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/t28\/1\/16\/1f198.png\")
Children rely on witnesses. Pets rely on volunteers and rescuers. When those allies were shut out, no one was left to testify to their suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children are hidden behind closed doors. Pets are now hidden behind fences and misleading signs to keep public out. Secrecy protects the abuser, not the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children endure trauma in silence. Pets endure the same \u2014 hunger, thirst, heatstroke, neglect, and slow deaths \u2014 with no escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\u2696\ufe0f\"](\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/ta\/1\/16\/2696.png\")
The Parallel: In domestic violence, abusers isolate, intimidate, and conceal. At PCAC, the government does the same to animals trapped inside\u2014 stripping away every safeguard, silencing every witness, until the abuse is invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\ud83d\udc49\"](\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/t51\/1\/16\/1f449.png\")
Just as society says \u201cprotect the children\u201d when they are defenseless, we must also say \u201cprotect the animals\u201d \u2014 because they, too, are voiceless victims depending on us to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silence in the face of abuse is complicity. SPEAK UP. Be their voice. Share this post and demand change. ![\"\ud83d\udd25\"](\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/t50\/1\/16\/1f525.png\")
![\"\ud83d\ude4f\"](\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/t80\/1\/16\/1f64f.png\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Vicky Quintanilla Just like children trapped in abusive homes, the animals at Polk County Animal Control are voiceless, powerless, and entirely dependent on the adults in charge. After 11… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58405,"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":"11","_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTBcLzU0NTg4Mjg0NF8xMDE2MjMzMDE3ODYzNDEzMl8yNTEzMTcxMTk0NDkwNjMyMzUzX24ud2VicD9maXQ9NTI2JTJDNTI2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTGV0dGVyICYjODIxMTsgUGV0cyBBcmUgdGhlIERlZmVuc2VsZXNzIENoaWxkcmVuIG9mIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.7DJOBNaX4ioIp5xiUTy4ExH5D-CQ4Gq59-yj5k3dfH0MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":58405,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/545882844_10162330178634132_2513171194490632353_n.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[12365],"class_list":["post-58404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters","tag-letter-pets-are-the-defenseless-children-of-polk-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58404","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=58404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58406,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58404\/revisions\/58406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/545882844_10162330178634132_2513171194490632353_n.webp?resize=526%2C526&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n