08/15/2026
I don’t like to shame shelters, but this one deserves it. They aren’t trying. They begrudgingly accept help and the County refuses TNR.
Here are the statistics from Polk County Animal Control for the first 7 months of 2026. Let me say that the rescues who have been pulling animals from Polk AC are the HEROES here. They are what is keeping this shelter from tanking terribly in their numbers. Since no foundational programs have been instituted as of now, ie: foster/volunteer/pet retention/tnvr - if the rescues did not pull or were unable to pull animals at any given time, Polk Animal Control would be in huge trouble without any of these foundational programs and their live release rate would plummet quickly.
Items of note:
Since May, they have segregated out of their totals the animals they euthanized as:
"Stray/Confiscated behavior/medical impounds (dangerous Animal, Unhealthy/Untreatable only).
According to the Statute 823.15 (3) states, "A public or private animal shelter...operated by a humane society, or by a county, municipality, euthanized animals...must be recorded and included in the calculation of the total euthanasia percentage."
This is not happening as these unhealthy/untreatable/behaviorally challenged animals are not included in the total intake or the total outcome.
As it stands (without including those animals in red), their LRR is 84% dogs and 63% cats for the first 7 months of 2026. If you add in the animals listed in red and euthanized, the dog number is the same, the cat number is 59% live release.
When asked about these numbers we were told that since they are an open intake shelter, and they take in all animals brought to their door, the animals in this category are those that are deemed dangerous dogs or medically compromised dogs and cats with no quality of life. It may also include pan leuk cats/kittens, FIP cats/kittens and FIV cats/kittens which they consider not treatable unless pulled by a rescue. In our experience for transparency, the formula "noses in, noses out" should always be utilized.
The only animals that should not be counted are those that are dead on arrival (line 17 and 33) and animals euthanized at owners request wherein the shelter didn't make the decision to euthanize (line 18 and 34). These two categories (dead on arrival and owner requested euth) should not even be part of the programs that Animal Control offers. They are not a crematorium, and dead-on arrival animals should be taken to a vet or burial company, and the owner requested euthanasia animals should be directed to a list of vet's offices they can refer people to for end of life, maybe with a lower cost agreement. Animal Control should not be offering disposal or end of life euthanasia care to the public. That is not their purpose.
In 7 months, they have killed 1,433 cats (or 1,648 cats if you add in the behavior/medical euthanasia) and 394 dogs (or 404 dogs if you add in the behavior/medical euthanasia). A total of 1,827 or 2,052 depending on the calculation process. 261 or 293 animals per month.
