Animal Care & Protective Services

01/01/2026

Duval, we did this. Together.

With the help of our staff, volunteers, fosters, partners, and this community, we saved well over 6,000 cats and dogs in 2025.

That is a 25% increase over last year.

That number represents late nights, hard calls, medical miracles, second chances, and people who refused to give up when it was hard. It represents officers in the field, vet staff in surgery, volunteers walking dogs, fosters opening their homes, adopters saying yes, and a community that showed up again and again.

This did not happen by accident. It happened because people cared and took action.

If you volunteered, fostered, adopted, donated, shared a post, or told someone about us, you are part of this win.

6,110 lives saved.
25% growth.
Momentum we are not slowing down.

Thank you for believing in what’s possible when a community comes together.
On to 2026.

12/31/2025

Meet Donut. 🍩
4-year-old bloodhound mix. Big ears. Big heart. Zero chill at first.

Let’s be real. Donut is a little obnoxious and kind of annoying when you first meet him. He’s a little loud, a tad bit in your space, and acts like he just drank a red bull. BUT that part is temporary.

Here’s the rest of his very real resume:

🐶 Hung out with our friends at Dogtopia and Houndstown.

🐶 Successfully co-housed with other dogs

🐶 Rocked Stroll Mates like a pro

🐶 Absolute favorite of our PAWS students

🐶 Knows sit and paw because he’s smart, not just cute

Now the here's kicker. Donut has been adopted and returned 10 times. Not because he’s bad. Not because he’s unsafe. Not because he can’t live in a home.

It’s because he hasn’t been given enough time to decompress. When he first lands in a new place, he’s extra. Once he settles, he’s solid. We’ve seen it.

What Donut needs:

An adopter who understands that dogs aren’t plug-and-play

Or a longer-term foster willing to let him exhale and be himself

Donut isn’t for someone who wants perfect on day one.
He’s for someone who wants real.

If you’ve got patience, a sense of humor, and room for a adorable and lovable weirdo, Donut might be your guy.

Come meet him. Let’s finally get this right.

We're open 7 days a week from 12pm-7pm.

12/30/2025

Stopping by with your weekly roundup of adoption and foster photos. Congratulations to all and thank you for supporting the pets at Animal Care and Protective Services! ❤️ 😍

12/30/2025

Have you seen the viral videos of dogs picking their new owners? Well if you like that join us and watch our dogs pick their favorite staff and volunteers!

12/29/2025

THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our shelter during the month of December! ❤️ Whether families sent in goodies for Secret Santa, companies brought treats with them during their Stroll Mates mornings, or businesses collected Santa-sized hauls for our dogs and cats, we all felt totally spoiled.

💗 Level and Tone Salon ran an Angel Tree-style donation for our pups all month long, and we got to thank them in person when their crew dropped everything off.

🐾 Birch Island Veterinary Clinic spoiled us with a whole cartful of food, foster supplies, and treats, just in time for the end of our Silent Night push.

✨ The Hylant Group completely filled up our donation circle thanks to their company's donation drive.

💖 And Snap2 Ship collected a TON of our most-asked-for necessities (like they've done multiple times in the past!).

It is hard to put into words just how thankful we are for the kindness of our community members, featured in this post or not. Going into the new year with tons of gratitude! 🥳

12/28/2025

Check out this biiiig post-nap stretch! 😻 You should rest up too, Duval—we’re just a few days away from 2026, and the week ahead is full of opportunities to adopt, foster, volunteer, go on Dogs Around Duval trips, and so much more.

📍 2020 Forest St.
12:00-7:00 PM, 7 days a week

See you soon! 🥰❤️

12/27/2025

Off the Chain, Jacksonville's very first hardcore show benefitting animal welfare, is NEXT WEEKEND! ❤️ ⛓️

The hardcore community loves animals, and we're seeing that put into action as the event comes together. We're so grateful for everyone making this possible and are blown away by everyone's generosity! All donations and door fees go directly to Friends of Jacksonville Animals, Inc. to benefit the animals of ACPS.

📍
⏰ Saturday 1/3 at 5:00 PM

Check out the lineup of all Florida-based bands:
vhc
truth






Plus tattoo raffles, photo raffles, nail raffles, exclusive merch, vinyls, and more!! We can't wait for the show!! See you there 🤘

12/27/2025

So cool! Check out Today Show sharing the recent lifesaving teamwork between us and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office ❤️

12/26/2025

This week's is Diamond, now known as Violet. 💜💎

Back in October, one of our staff members found Violet tied to the bike racks outside of the shelter while she was loading up a van to go to the Jacksonville Pet Adoption Festival. Violet was nervous, and understandably so—she had fresh wounds on her muzzle, neck, and side.😢 But despite having clearly been through something terrible, and being confused and scared, she slowly began opening up.

Violet spent some time recuperating in our medical area before moving into a kennel run, and everyone at the shelter quickly fell in love with her soft, friendly personality. And as it turns out, so did her new family! Violet is spending the holidays snoozing in a cozy home with her people. Happy tails, Violet! 💖

12/26/2025

Happy Kwanzaa to all those who celebrate ❤️

Today marks the beginning of the 7-day festival of Kwanzaa. To those celebrating, we wish joy and happiness to you and yours.

12/25/2025

Dutch says sorry-not-sorry for the chaos he put the photo backdrop through 🤪😂

On behalf of Dutch (and his chaos), team ACPS wishes you and your loved ones a restful, merry holiday!

PS: ask us about Dutch: he’s super duper smart—he knows sit, speak, lay, roll over, stay, AND “legs” where he’ll move between his handlers legs and sit—and the biggest, most lovable goofball. ❤️

12/25/2025

Just a reminder that, in observance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, ACPS will be open 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. For any animal-related emergencies outside of these hours, please contact 630-CITY. ❤️💚