Searching for adoptable pets, adopting a pet, getting pet licenses, and looking for lost pets are all services provided by Lee County. Unfortunately, the county has a limited amount of shelters and space within them. If you have no other safe place to go, the shelters will be open. The Lost & Found Pet Center is open Monday through Saturday from 8am to 4pm.
Two customer service representatives are available during business hours. For after-hours emergencies, call 239-533-7387 to contact the answering services. Eleven animal care specialists are employed to care for lost pets and those available for adoption at the Pet Adoption Center. Veterinary services are provided by two on-staff veterinarians, four veterinary technicians, and two customer service representatives.
The Licensing Department is responsible for the sale of pet licenses and contacts local veterinary offices for rabies vaccination records. Microchips are available Monday through Friday starting at 9am. At 4pm, the Center closes. Shelters in Lee County are in need of assistance from their communities in terms of adoptions, volunteering, cash donations, food, and more.
The 90% live release rate is a designation established by Best Friends for any shelter that manages to save 90% of the animals it hosts. One of the problems is that the reactive nature of this field does not translate into the implementation of effective policies. The figure does not include stray animals rescued or collected on the streets or highways by municipal shelters. The McCauley shelter neuters or spayes every dog it has and strives to find a good fit for families looking for pets and helping other shelters. By improving the fluidity of rescue groups, there will be more space to get endangered animals out of crowded shelters. The Lee Animal Shelter Center treats about 400 animals at any given time and even accepts “pets with special medical and behavioral needs for treatment and rehabilitation”, leading to adoption and a savings rate of 89.1%.
With the lobbying and support of Best Friends and other animal-loving allies, Florida politicians have taken steps to get to the root of the problem in public housing by banning regulations that prohibit the size or species of pets for individuals or families from public accommodations. In that public shelter, where 8,695 pets entered Pet Services last year, 6,673 were saved including 3,369 dogs and 3,304 cats representing a savings rate of around 76.75%. Shelters are struggling right now but community factors need to be evaluated in order to move in a positive direction for each community. Having high rates of infectious diseases translates into a low level of population well-being which correlates with a population that is too large in shelters. Obviously, it doesn't work or is sustainable and it's achieving the goal of getting fewer animals into shelters over time. Lee County has limited animal shelters but they are doing their best to provide services such as adoptions, pet licenses, veterinary care, microchips and more.
With help from their communities in terms of donations and volunteering they can reach their goal of saving 90% of their animals.
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