Increasing Lifesaving for Animals &
Improving the Quality of Life for People
For decades, the Halifax Humane Society has provided animal sheltering services for stray animals as a contracted service for Volusia County and many of its municipal governments. These services are the responsibility of local governments under Florida law. With no county or city-run animal shelters in the Volusia County area, Halifax Humane Society has shouldered this critical responsibility. However, increasing costs, complex legal considerations, and essential public health considerations have made this model unsustainable for our donation-supported nonprofit organization moving forward. To meet our region’s needs now and in the future, we are calling on Volusia County and its municipalities to collaborate with us on a transition plan that fully brings stray animal services under direct and appropriate government management.
We’re incredibly proud of our team’s dedication and tireless work filling this gap for many years. As we invest resources into preventing animal cruelty—programs like healthy pet adoptions, spaying and neutering owned pets to prevent unwanted animals, access to affordable veterinary care, providing a soft place to land for owner-surrendered pets, and even transferring in adoptable pets from government shelters—we will increase lifesaving efforts to protect pets and strengthen families. This transition is a crucial step toward long-term sustainability and a more significant impact on animals and the people who care for them. Halifax Humane Society’s goal is to meet families and their pets where they are, provide needed preventative services, and work to keep pets out of shelters altogether.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Why should the county and municipalities take on these responsibilities?
Florida Statutes (828.30) require counties and municipalities to assume responsibility for providing animal control services, a mandate strongly endorsed by public health and veterinary experts. The National Environmental Health Association, an independent nonprofit association, notes that government-operated animal shelters are critical infrastructure supporting the consistent enforcement of public health laws while safeguarding community well-being.
Of 67 counties in Florida, only Baker, Charlotte, Flagler, Jackson, Indian River, Liberty, Okaloosa, St. Lucie, and Volusia do not have government-run shelters for stray animal housing and care.
Government-operated shelters provide a critical infrastructure for disease surveillance, rabies control, and managing stray and potentially aggressive animals—functions inherently linked to environmental public health. Unlike many nonprofit organizations, local governmental agencies have the legal authority, regulatory mandate, and public funding needed to respond uniformly across jurisdictions, especially during outbreaks or emergencies involving zoonotic disease threats
Q: How will Halifax support this effort?
Halifax Humane Society will always be the best place to adopt healthy, great pets. We are actively working with our county and municipal leaders to determine the safest and most effective approach to addressing our community’s urgent need for a sustainable stray animal sheltering model. Halifax Humane Society will work with county and city officials to accept healthy, adoptable pets into our organization’s placement program, relieving governments of the need to operate full-blown adoption centers.
Q: Who will cover the cost of building a stray animal shelter and establishing such services? How much will that cost?
That is a question for our county and municipal leaders. Halifax Humane Society has offered to provide its credentialed animal shelter experts to help plan and support the transition plan at no cost to our counties and municipalities. We have also outlined our plan to increase community services, from expanding our spay and neuter services for owned pets to standing up a community veterinary clinic, both efforts to prevent animals from becoming homeless in the first place.
Q: What will the role of the Halifax Humane Society be after the transition is complete?
Halifax Humane Society will continue its lifesaving efforts for our community’s pets. As the shift away from housing stray animals begins, we will act on our promise to enhance the overall service to our community’s animals and people by establishing agreements to receive and place healthy, adoptable pets from government sheltering agencies into new homes once mandated stray animal holding periods have ended.
We will build on the success of our stray animal prevention spay and neuter services for owned pets and deploy a comprehensive lost pet reunification plan that includes microchip clinics and Petco Love Lost sign-up activities.
Additionally, we’ll work to establish and fully operate a community veterinary clinic, providing all residents with access to affordable care for their pets, thus preventing relinquishment due to the inability to afford veterinary care. We will also expand our dog training classes to reduce the number of animals abandoned due to a lack of behavioral support. Together, we can meet families where they are, provide needed preventative services, and work to keep pets out of shelters altogether.
