Street Cat Project of Polk County FL: Humanely Helping Community Cats, One Cat at a Time
by Eve Salimbene
Street Cat Project of Polk County FL is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of free-roaming community cats throughout Polk County, Florida. Through humane, practical solutions, the organization works to reduce the number of outdoor cats while helping neighborhoods better understand and support the animals already living among them.
At the heart of the organization’s work is Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return, commonly known as TNVR. Community cats are safely trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and feline distemper, ear-tipped for identification, and returned to their original outdoor homes. This approach helps prevent new litters, reduces nuisance behaviors, and allows established cat colonies to decline naturally over time.
Street Cat Project of Polk County, FL, also educates residents about the benefits of TNVR and the importance of responsible community cat care. Because the group is not a shelter or pet rescue, its impact depends on volunteers, donations, supplies, and local support. Together, neighbors can make Polk County a safer, healthier place for both cats and people.
In partnership with the Coalition for Animal Rights and Education in Polk County FL (CAREPolk), we work to change the animal ordinances in Polk County to better reflect the 21st-century model of sheltering, including humane community cat treatment, countywide low-cost spay/neuter programs, licensing for backyard breeders with enforcement of laws, tethering rules, an Animal Advisory Council, and a new Animal Control Resource Center.
Since we began speaking at the Board of County Commissioners meetings one year ago, we have seen small, incremental improvements at Polk Animal Control. The new director, Captain Jason Varnadore, is more involved and looking for progressive policies to help the shelter move toward a 21st-century model of sheltering. The days of the old dog pound are long gone, with shelters now becoming resource centers for the community. They have added additional high-volume ceiling fans to cool the kennel areas. There is a new enrichment yard for the dogs, where staff and trustees can exercise them. But we still are working on much-needed change, including allowing volunteers into the building to work with the animals, having more transparency with internal workings so the public has faith that animals are safe and properly cared for, a countywide TNVR program with protection for community cats and their caregivers, an Animal Advisory Board, and much more. Please join us in our quest to make Polk Animal Control a humane county resource center.
Be sure to follow @streetcatproject and @CAREPolk on Facebook.
