Animal Services

The mission of the Animal Services Department is to ensure the health and safety of the people and pets in our community by encouraging responsible pet ownership through education, legislation, code enforcement, and by providing incentives to sterilize pets. PCAS fulfils this mission by providing animal control services, rabies control and pet licensing, humane education outreach, community programs and partnerships, and maintains the only municipal county animal shelter for stray or homeless pets and pet resource needs.

The Animal Services Department is funded through the Municipal Service Fund by services and fees such as animal license sales, adoption fees, shelter service fees, and animal control fees and citations. Animal license funding also supports programs for rabies prevention, pet identification to assist with the return of lost pets to their homes and pet sterilization programs. Animal Services routinely applies for grants from a number of national animal welfare organizations and receives donations through the non-profit organization Friends of Animal Services, Inc.

Pasco County Animal Services is uniquely positioned under the Public Services branch of the Pasco County government. This allows Animal Services the opportunity to partner closely with other Public Services departments such as Community Development, Human Services, Senior Services and Veteran Services to provide proactive and progressive community support when assisting citizens. As our Animal Services team responds to pet assistance calls, they often realize that citizens have unmet human needs that the county can assist with. By sharing the county’s innovative programs, services, and resources to help meet citizen needs Animal Services achieves its organizational goal of keeping people with their pets to maintain the human animal bond.

Core Services

Customer Service Team

The Customer Service team is often the first contact many citizens have with Animal Services. They assist citizens with informational requests, animal complaints, resource needs, provide dispatch information for animal control calls, and assist customers with various pet needs at our animal shelter in Land O Lakes. The Customer Service team also administers the county pet licensing program and helps to assist customers with a variety of information on lost and found resources, as well as other pet program needs.

Field Services Team

This county-wide animal control service consists of ten certified Animal Control Officers who serve the people and pets in our Pasco community by enforcing County ordinances for domestic companion animals. All officers routinely respond to customer service calls, which include aggressive animals, stray dog complaints, animal bites, rabies concerns, and animal welfare checks. These calls often lead to more in-depth investigations including animal cruelty, neglect or abandonment investigations, bite quarantines, and animal hoarding. Officers also investigate and provide rabies quarantine assistance, mediate neighbor disputes involving animals, provide humane education and assist local law and code enforcement with animal related cases or emergencies.

Shelter Services Team

Animal Services operates the only county-maintained shelter for domestic animals in Pasco County. Since August 2012, the Animal Services shelter has operated under the tenets of a SAVE 90% Program, with a goal of saving 90% or more of the animals brought into the shelter. The Shelter Services team manages the daily care and housing of all the animals brought into the shelter. They oversee the shelter animal population to ensure each animal receives proper care, food, exercise, and enrichment to maintain its overall health.

Veterinary Services Team

The shelter Veterinary Services team provides medical care to all shelter animals to include vaccination,

sterilization, medical forensics, clinical diagnostics and radiographs, microchipping, preventative care,

treatments, and testing, as well as various surgical procedures. In addition, they provide sterilization support Field Services Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Return initiatives and the Spay Neuter in Pasco Program. The Veterinary Services and Customer Service Teams also hold an affordable public vaccination clinic each Tuesday and Thursday morning from 8:00 am until noon. Appointments are recommended, but walk-ins are accepted.

Community Partnerships and Programs Team

The Community Partnerships and Programs (CPAP) team oversee a number of community programs including the recruitment, training and selection of foster care families for shelter pets, as well as the care of those pets in foster homes to prepare them for adoption; the recruitment, training and coordination of volunteers at the shelter for a variety of support duties; the rescue program which creates partnerships with local and statewide 501 (c) (3) animal welfare organizations that assist the shelter with the rehoming of stray or abandoned pets. This team also assists people and pets with information regarding the wide range of programs and services provided by Animal Services and other pet resource partners. CPAP also provides education outreach that includes humane education programs, scheduling shelter visits, training for local schools, clubs, or civic groups, marketing, promotion of special events for shelter activities, and outreach and information through the PCAS website and social media platforms.

Spay Services (Spay Neuter in Pasco Program)

Pasco County Animal Services supports two major sterilization incentives for county citizens which fall under the Spay Neuter in Pasco (SNIP) program.

1. Income Qualified Spay and Neuter for Pets – Helps income qualified families. Applicants are required to provide proof of eligibility. Cost is $20 for dogs and $10 for cats.
2. Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Release (TNVR) – Offers an alternative means of reducing the feral and community stray cat population within Pasco County. Proof of Residency required. Cost is $10.