POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Animal advocates have launched an electronic mail marketing campaign in response to an ABC Motion Information investigative report.
As we first reported final week, a former worker, an area rescue, and a number of neighborhood members say Polk County Animal Management is falling wanting their expectations.
In 2024, 401 canine and cats mixed died within the shelter for causes not associated to euthanasia.
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Moreover, 564 animals escaped from the shelter. The overwhelming majority of these escapees have been cats.
“That was fairly surprising,” mentioned Jessica Ragazzo in response.
For the reason that story aired, animal advocates like Ragazzo have been escalating their advocacy, and others are taking to social media to share their regarding experiences with Polk County Animal Management.
“I feel, like extra folks really feel compelled to say one thing now in the event that they hadn’t been earlier than,” Ragazzo mentioned.
Ragazzo has been forwarding our story and her considerations to Polk County leaders, and now, she’s encouraging others to do the identical.
“We’re writing as many individuals as potential — principally the commissioners, the county commissioners,” she mentioned.
It’s not simply Ragazzo.
On Fb, the Polk Animal Welfare Advocacy group has launched an electronic mail writing marketing campaign, sharing county leaders’ contact information and urging folks to “flood” their electronic mail inboxes and telephone strains.

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Ragazzo hopes their voices can be heard and can make a distinction.
“It’s not only a group of, you already know, ten loopy cat girls which can be protesting. That is a lot bigger than that,” she mentioned.
As beforehand reported, a spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff’s Workplace, which oversees Animal Management for the county, mentioned the county shelter’s animals are properly cared for, and that the 401 deaths in 2024 are “straight associated to the variety of unhealthy animals we obtain as an open consumption facility.”
To learn and watch our full investigation, click on right here.
“There are not any safeguards, and I really feel like that is a part of the place the system failed”
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