Group says Seminole County Animal Services are not transparent about low intake numbers

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A group that helps owners care for their animals claims something is not right at the Seminole County Animal Services.

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T.E.A.R.S of Seminole County is accusing the shelter of turning too many pets away and not being transparent with the public about why.

Residents like Stefanie Fredrico said she was turned away after she took in a cat who continued to follow her husband home.

“We decided to take her in and little did we know, sooner than later, all of a sudden, she was pregnant,” Fredrico said.

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She said she called Seminole County Animal Services but was told the shelter was full and didn’t have the resources to spay the cat, and neither did she. The cat got pregnant again, and so did another one.

Right now, she has 11 at home.

“Way too many cats, and we are trying to get a solution of getting them fixed and finding them good homes and stuff like that,” Fredrico said. “It’s just been so difficult. I keep trying to call the animal shelter.”

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T.E.A.R.S for Seminole County, a nonprofit that helps the shelter and residents with things like funds and food, tells us their relationship with SCAS has soured, and they have taken to Facebook to tell everyone why.

A Facebook post said, “Ordinances and policies have been disregarded by management all to reach a 90% live release rate for a status of a ‘no-kill’ shelter. This means that if the shelter accepts 100 animals and can adopt out or transfer 90 of those animals to rescue, it has reached a 90% live release rate. Having a no-kill shelter would be wonderful, and not having to euthanize animals turned in should be the ultimate goal. However, for a municipal county shelter to reach this, residents and animals must be turned away for help.This increases the number of animals neglected, dumped in wooded areas, or on the side of the road.”

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The nonprofit points to numbers presented to the Seminole County Commission, showing that the number of intakes was 463 in April 2023 but 187 in April 2024.

However, Seminole County’s shelter spokesperson told Channel 9 that it was because of their work to keep animals out of shelters and into homes.

See their statement:

“Seminole County Animal Services is an open shelter and its status has not changed. In the last year, we have focused on diversionary programs to keep pets in their homes with their owners and prevent additional owner surrenders. these supportive measures, such as food assistance and veterinary resources, have positively affected our intake numbers.”

People with T.E.A.R.S. are expected to attend Tuesday’s commission meeting. The county said it will have a response ready for the accusers then.

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