WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Images taken inside Polk County Animal Control are going viral after a local woman says the pictures she took show animals living in "questionable conditions."
Natalie Scott, who considers herself an animal lover and advocate, says she visited the Polk County animal shelter in Winter Haven just before the July 4th holiday. She's been back twice since then because she’s worried about the cats and kittens there.
Based upon the response to Scott’s social media posts, others share that concern,as well.
Scott says she started snapping videos and pictures of what she describes as sweltering conditions at Polk County Animal Control.
The video and photos show cats and kittens in their cages being inactive or panting. The images on Scott’s social media pages were quickly shared by animal rights advocates.
“If you went in somebody's backyard and they had a metal crate with either no blanket or filthy litter or no water, panting, lying flat, ice glazed over, what would we do?” Scott said. “We would call animal control and they would be served with animal abuse papers. So why is it OK over there?”
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which operates animal control, released a statement in response:
“The social media post regarding Polk County Animal Control is complete fiction, and we are outraged with this woman’s bald-faced lies. Our cats and dogs are housed in a kennel with thousands of square feet, a very high ceiling, huge fans and a ventilation system, and all of the animals have food, water, and shelter, as well as an on-site veterinarian. There were not, and are not, any cats in distress.
"Our Animal Control staff members are singularly focused on providing medical support and tender loving care to the pets in our facility, with the goal of finding each and every one of them a loving home. Perhaps the woman who was so concerned about the cats she saw there should have focused more on adopting them than trying to ‘go viral’ on social media with her lies.”
The sheriff's office says the buildings at the shelter have never been air-conditioned, but there are fans in the kennel hallways to keep animals cool.
At least one person commenting on Scott's post said they had reached out to PETA, which promised to look into it.
Scott says she has also heard from animal rescue groups willing to adopt some of the animals, while others are now planning an organized protest. She's already applied to take two of the cats home, she added.