CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — Wakulla County Animal Shelter and Jacksonville Humane Society are working to keep pets in homes, and not the shelter, through a new partnership.
- The partnership will offer need-based assistance to neighbors in Wakulla County.
- The shelters will help by providing food, litter, spaying, and neutering, to even vet costs.
- Watch the video below to learn more about this new effort could relieve pressure for pet owners.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Jacksonville Humane Society saw a dedicated team here at the Wakulla Animal Shelter and wanted to be an extra resource to them in helping our neighbors.
I'm Serena Davanzo your Crawfordville neighborhood reporter.
They’ve partnered together to help make sure that animals stay at home and not in the shelter.
"The cost of a bag of pet food lately, it's exorbitant," said Adam Leath, Jacksonville Humane Society. "On top of that, veterinary care, all of those things add to pressure on pet owners, and that pressure can lead to admission to the shelter."
The Jacksonville Humane Society has a 10-year program called the Florida Leaders in Life Saving, where they go around the state and partner with local shelters. With the work the team has done at the Wakulla County Animal Shelter, they knew they wanted to help their work.
"So we identified Wakulla County because of the advanced stage of their leadership," explained Leath. "They actually were attending some of our conferences, and approaching us, and asking some very targeted questions about some of the challenges in their community. With that, the partnership blossomed, and we're able to come here to see what the operation is and what the needs are, and we immediately found that there was an immediate fit for us to be able to partner together."
This partnership will provide more resources to the community as a whole and not just people looking to adopt.
Some of the ways it’ll help is a pet diversion program, reducing the risks of animals being euthanized, and a community cat program.
According to the peer-reviewed shelteranimalscount.com, nationwide, 31% of shelter intakes in the first half of 2025 were animal surrenders.
The pet diversion program is a way to help neighbors who may not be able to afford their pet for any reason and is trying to surrender them. This can be done by providing food, litter, spay, and neutering, to even vet costs.
According to Leath, new studies show that 60% of people have to place vet bills on a credit card, as people couldn’t pay out of pocket for costs.
The animal control manager at the Wakulla Animal Shelter, Walter Class explained a recent story about a woman they helped keep their pet.
"We've already seen a very positive story come out of Panacea. There was a lady there who's had a small chihuahua for several years. It was her personal pet. The pet was attacked in the front yard of the home. It actually lost its eye due to the damage that it received," explained Walter Class, the Animal Control Manager for the Wakulla County Animal Shelter. "The woman took the dog to a veterinarian. She was going to have to surrender the dog to animal control for euthanasia because she had no means to provide medical assistance for the dog."
Through the partnership, they were able to treat the dog so they could live on with its owner at home.
If someone here in Wakulla County is looking for help, you can give them a call or visit the shelter.
In Crawfordville Serena Davanzo ABC 27.
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