Pinellas County Animal Welfare Organizations are working together to protect homeless and unwanted pets.
- Pinellas County working to reduce number of homeless pets
- Animal organizations teamed to protect unwanted pets
- Responsible ownership is key, organizers say
Pinellas County Animal Services, SPCA Tampa Bay, The Humane Society of Pinellas, Pet Pal Animal Shelter and Friends of Strays use education and data they’ve collected over the years to find ways to reduce the number of homeless pets.
“We started this in 2012, so now we have a 5-year trend of how our data is progressing for Pinellas County as a whole,” said Doug Brightwell with Pinellas County Animal Services.
Brightwell said overall, fewer animals are coming to the county shelter and he credits that to the alliance of the organizations.
Last year, the organization focused on reuniting lost pets with their owners, and this year, Brightwell said they’ll look at the data to see what else they can do to keep animals from entering the system.
Brightwell said the key is responsible ownership.
“If they keep their animals properly vaccinated and licensed, and micro chipped, we won’t have the large number of stray animals coming in to the system and not being reclaimed because if they have a microchip and a license, you’re guaranteeing that pet will get back home to its rightful owner,” Brightwell said.
In addition to the alliance, Pinellas County recently passed an ordinance to make sure pets sold in the county are the appropriate age and have all their vaccines.
The ordinance goes into effect on April 1.
The ordinance also prevents people from selling pets in flea markets or by the side of the road.