The Jacksonville Humane Society (JHS) completed a year-long project this month by completing 625 spay and neuter surgeries for community cats in Jacksonville after a $25,000 award from Florida Animal Friend.  

Florida Animal Friend is the organization behind the popular specialty “Spay and Neuter” license plate available for vehicles in Florida.

Over the years, Florida Animal Friend has awarded more than $6,700,000 to incredible organizations with effective Florida spay and neuter programs. As stated on their website, “an increase in the number of these surgeries greatly reduces pet overpopulation and ultimately saves the lives of countless homeless cats and dogs.”

JHS received the $25,000 grant award in 2021 with a goal to spay and neuter 625 cats and kittens from Jacksonville and completed the work this month.

The 625 surgeries were done in addition to JHS’s annual spay/neuter work. This increase in capacity is an effort to help sustain a lower intake of kittens at Jacksonville’s shelters in our community. Altering free-roaming cats in our community helps to reduce the overall population. In doing so, the number of neonatal kittens that are found and rushed to Florida’s shelters in the spring and summer will decrease.

Decreasing the cat and kitten population helps lower the number of kittens entering shelters, and helps reserve precious resources for cats of all ages who are sick, ill, and injured.

“We are so thankful to Florida Animal Fund for their continued support of this program,” said Denise Deisler, CEO of JHS. “We are also incredibly grateful for the hardworking volunteers who trapped cats along with those who worked alongside our surgery team. This accomplishment was a community effort and we are truly appreciative of everyone’s efforts.”

To support this work, individuals are encouraged to purchase a Florida Animal Friend license plate. Plates are available by mail or online at floridaanimalfriend.org or at your local county’s tag and title office.