b'Can Polk County Become A No Kill County?The Grady Judd Spay and Neuter ProgramIs A Good Place To StartFlorida ranks in the top five states with the highest number ofshelter pets euthanized, often for no other reason than for lackof space. Polk County has the highest kill rate in Florida of shel-ter pets. Part of what is contributing to the problem in Polk isthe number of free-roaming unaltered animals in an area that ishighly rural. Now, the SPCA Florida and Polk County Sheriffs OfficeAnimalControl havepartneredtohelpsavemoreanimals.Supported by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the 2024 goalthe two organizations have set is to provide low cost and no costspay and neuter services for 4,000 personal pets throughoutPolk County.PolkCountyhasalsobeenchallengedbyBestFriendsAnimal Society to become no kill by 2025. To that end, theSPCA Florida has set a goal ofraising $700,000 to assist withthe intake and transportationofanimalstovariousothershelters across Florida and outof state. They will be hosting aMega Adopt-A-Thon on June8 where other pet rescues, likePolkCountyBullyProject,willbeinvitedtoshowcasetheir adoptables. Polk CountyBullyProject,withashelterright around the corner fromPolk County Bully Project the SPCA Florida shelter, hasco-founder Angela Lorio with beeninstrumentalinpullingPolk County Sheriff Grady Judd dogsfromPolkCountyAnimal Services, and transporting them to out-of-state rescuepartners.ShelleyThayer,SPCA FloridasExecutiveDirectorsaid,Right now, we have $60,000 from a donor who is asking us tomatchittohelpkeeptheseanimalswiththeirfamilies.IfSPCA Florida succeeds with that match, the donor said theywould offer another $60,000. Pull from Polk, Thayer said.Were concentrating on our own backyard. Uwww.TheNewBarker.com THE NEW BARKER 67'