POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Animals in shelters are being killed because there isn't enough space for them -- even here in Tampa Bay.
Polk County is at the top of the list for killing animals in the state of Florida, according to Denise Deisler, the CEO of the Jacksonville Humane Society. Nationwide data, she says, ranks the county No. 6th in the U.S.
Many shelters are no-kill shelters. They take in all animals and work to find them a new home, but many times it isn't that easy.
"There's you know so many animals that are entering the shelter system that there's nowhere for them to go," said Eve Salimbene, the president of the Polk No-Kill Coalition.
Now shelters in Polk County and animal control want to change that. According to Best Friends Animal Society, Polk county took in 15,000 animals last year.
More than 8,000 of them were euthanized.
"Polk specifically is killing more animals, so we're trying to focus in on seeing what we can do in the communities to provide support. Because the shelters are doing what they can with what they have," Tiffany Deton said.
Deton is the regional manager of the Southeast for Best Friends Animal Society. She says the goal is to take Polk from a county that kills the most animals in Florida to a county that kills none. Animal support organizations say the solution is in the community.
"The community has to say, 'We're going to be more responsible pet owners and we're going to spay and neuter our animals. We're going to work with the cats that live in our yard and let them live there. We'll get them spayed or neutered and keep them where they are instead of turning them into the shelter,'" Salimbene said.
Donations, volunteers and fostering animals can all lighten the load, so instead of saving 40 percent of the animals taken in, shelters save almost 90 percent.
"It's absolutely achievable, but it begins with believing," Deisler said. "The community has to believe it and they have to want it and they have to want it and they have to step up to the plate in making it happen."
The Polk No-Kill Coalition, Best Friends Animal Society and the Humane Society of Jacksonville are all holding a town hall Thursday in Polk County. It will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Hampton Inn in Bartow, located at 205 Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road.
They'll talk about the meaning of no-kill and lifesaving practices the community can use to help the county.
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