{"id":66537,"date":"2026-05-22T18:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=66537"},"modified":"2026-05-22T18:53:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:53:42","slug":"for-nearly-2-months-citizens-have-tracked-how-many-animals-are-available-for-adoption-at-sheriff-judds-polk-county-animal-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/22\/for-nearly-2-months-citizens-have-tracked-how-many-animals-are-available-for-adoption-at-sheriff-judds-polk-county-animal-control\/","title":{"rendered":"For nearly 2 months, citizens have tracked how many animals are available for adoption at Sheriff Judd’s Polk County Animal Control"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By Coalition for Animal Rights and Education in Polk County Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly 2 months, citizens have tracked how many animals are available for adoption at Sheriff Judd’s Polk County Animal Control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s numbers may be the most alarming yet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

05\/21\/2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\udc31\" \ud835\udddd\ud835\ude02\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude01 \ud835\udfed \ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude01 available for adoption<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\udc36\" 51 dogs available for adoption<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, between Jan\u2013Apr 2026:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \ud835\udff4\ud835\udfec\ud835\udff0 \ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude01\ud835\ude00 euthanized<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 221 dogs euthanized<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 1,073 total animals euthanized in just 4 months<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That equals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 About 10\u201311 animals euthanized daily<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Nearly 8 cats killed every working day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 More than 2 dogs killed every working day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not a one-day anomaly. For weeks, the shelter repeatedly showed very few cats available for adoption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

03\/30\/2026 \u2014 5 cats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04\/02\/2026 \u2014 12 cats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04\/09\/2026 \u2014 5 cats \/ 28 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04\/23\/2026 \u2014 2 cats \/ 61 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04\/24\/2026 \u2014 9 cats \/ 55 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

04\/29\/2026 \u2014 8 cats \/ 43 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

05\/05\/2026 \u2014 16 cats \/ 45 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

05\/07\/2026 \u2014 12 cats \/ 44 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

05\/13\/2026 \u2014 36 cats \/ 79 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

05\/21\/2026 \u2014 1 cat \/ 51 dogs<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\ud835\udddb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude04 \ud835\uddf1\ud835\uddfc \ud835\udff4\ud835\udfec\ud835\udff0 \ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude01\ud835\ude00 \ud835\uddf4\ud835\uddf2\ud835\ude01 \ud835\uddf2\ud835\ude02\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude07\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf1, while the public repeatedly sees almost no cats available to adopt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.polksheriff.org\/animal-services\/adoptable-pets<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Coalition for Animal Rights and Education in Polk County Florida For nearly 2 months, citizens have tracked how many animals are available for adoption at Sheriff Judd’s Polk County… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"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":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL0dlbWluaV9HZW5lcmF0ZWRfSW1hZ2VfcjMzejE5cjMzejE5cjMzei53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNzE3JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiRm9yIG5lYXJseSAyIG1vbnRocywgY2l0aXplbnMgaGF2ZSB0cmFja2VkIGhvdyBtYW55IGFuaW1hbHMgYXJlIGF2YWlsYWJsZSBmb3IgYWRvcHRpb24gYXQgU2hlcmlmZiBKdWRkJiM4MjE3O3MgUG9sayBDb3VudHkgQW5pbWFsIENvbnRyb2wiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.nAMIZarfdgpVJGleH1jVNqNjtpXvKEf2_56ZTqDPgpgMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9HZW1pbmlfR2VuZXJhdGVkX0ltYWdlX3IzM3oxOXIzM3oxOXIzM3otMTAyNHg3MTcud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IkZvciBuZWFybHkgMiBtb250aHMsIGNpdGl6ZW5zIGhhdmUgdHJhY2tlZCBob3cgbWFueSBhbmltYWxzIGFyZSBhdmFpbGFibGUgZm9yIGFkb3B0aW9uIGF0IFNoZXJpZmYgSnVkZCdzIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IEFuaW1hbCBDb250cm9sIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.yODFvxcPGZwLMqGrYcMeZ4DNixbveU82sh5hQefos30MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14690,14689],"class_list":["post-66537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-citizens-have-tracked-how-many-animals-are-available-for-adoption-at-sheriff-judds-polk-county-animal-control","tag-for-nearly-2-months"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66537","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=66537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66552,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66537\/revisions\/66552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}