Though we all have good intentions, finding the extra time or resources to help out your local animal shelter and rescue organizations can sometimes be difficult. Thankfully, there’s a way to help that nearly everyone can do, and it only requires a few minutes once a year: Buy a Florida Animal Friend license plate for your vehicle.
The Florida Animal Friend license plate helps animal shelters, rescue organizations, and low-cost clinics around the state by funding low-cost spay and neuter programs to pet owners who cannot afford the cost of surgery. A portion of the proceeds from every specialty Florida Animal Friend license plate, $25 for each plate to be exact (the extra cost for this plate over a standard plate), goes into our nonprofit to help us provide spay and neuter grants around the state to organizations providing low cost spay/neuter to pet owners. Organizations can be awarded up to $25,000 for spay and neuter programs. But what are the types of programs that can receive grant funding and how does it help animal shelters? Let’s take a look.
Program Categories
There are several categories that grant funding supports, which, in turn, each provide a benefit to animal shelters. Florida Animal Friend gives a high priority to organizations that offer projects targeting low-income pet owners in their community.
Programs for Pets in Low-Income Families
While the benefits of a furry friend can be great, for some the cost can seem just out of reach. Many shelters, rescue organizations, and low-cost clinics, though, recognize that people from all walks of life can be amazing pet parents, but sometimes they need financial help to take the first step toward giving their love to a pet. Because of this, many shelters provide programs for pets in low-income families. They offer benefits like providing low or no cost spay and neuter surgeries and providing pet food when and if needed. To help offset the cost of spay and neuter surgeries, Florida Animal Friend offers grants that are available to organizations that provide assistance for spay-neuter services.
Trap-Neuter-Return Programs for Community Cats
Community cats are those cats that live outdoors and are not owned by a human family but receive care and food from caring neighborhood residents. Also known as feral cats, these cats live outside by themselves. To keep feral cat populations low, trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs are implemented. Good Samaritans trap the community cats, bring them to an animal shelter or low-cost spay-neuter clinic for spay or neuter surgery, and then return the animal to where it was found.
This is a great program that prevents cat overpopulation, but as the cats are not family pets, there is seldom a way to pay for the surgery. Funds from our grants can be given to animal shelters, rescue organizations, and low-cost clinics that apply in order to ease the cost burden of performing spay and neuter surgery.
Large Breed Dog Sterilization
When large dogs arrive at an animal shelter, chances are they will be there longer than smaller dogs and cats. The cost associated with spaying and neutering large dogs is sometimes out of reach for families with limited incomes. Because of this, many shelters, rescue organizations, and low-cost clinics help provide spay and neuter services at discounted or no cost rates to pet owners, helping reduce future populations of unwanted large dogs. Purchasing a Florida Animal Friend license plate gives shelters, rescues, and clinics the chance to apply for grant funding to help cover the cost of these surgeries.
The Florida Animal Friend specialty license plate is the only specialty plate in Florida that supports animal shelters through providing spay and neuter programs. It’s also one of the cutest specialty license plates out there! Support your local animal shelter by purchasing a Florida Animal Friend license plate today.