Tallahassee Animal Services — Attraction in Tallahassee

I visited the "Tallahassee-Leon Community Animal Service Center" located at 1125 Easterwood Drive, Tallahassee FL 32311 yesterday and today. On both days I was confronted by a hostile government official (middle-aged Caucasian male, driving a red pick-up truck, wearing small and round glasses, full head of white and unkempt hair, full beard, big pot-belly, and wearing a light-beige, short-sleeved polo shirt on both days). During both conversations he interrogated me about my intentions and indicated that I was unwelcome with his words, tone and body language, without actually telling me to leave. I explained to him that I was considering adopting a cat, and that I wanted to play with the cats that were currently available. I explained that I had never owned a cat and wanted to make sure that I would be a responsible owner, and that I had cat allergies and wanted to see how my body would react to being near cats. He told me on both days that if I wanted to play with cats I should apply to be a volunteer.

This is illogical on many levels. The center has a room designated as a cat play room that I witnessed both volunteers and visitors using with various cats. The room is full of cat toys and designed so that it is surrounded on three sides by a room containing caged cats. I read the various pieces of literature displayed at the center and none of them mentioned anything about needing to become a volunteer in order to adapt. In fact, one of them instructs a visitor interested in adaption to seek the help of a volunteer. I was confused by the official's seemingly irrational command so I asked if there was a foster program available that would allow me to spend some time with a cat. He abruptly told me that there was before shutting the door and leaving. When I went to the front desk to ask a volunteer about the foster program, I was surprised to learn that the foster program was not intended for adoption seekers. It was a program designed to temporarily house animals that were either too young for adaption or had an illness or disease that the center was unable to accommodate. The hostile official actually walked over to listen in on my conversation and stared at me before leaving. Unfortunately, he left before I had finished speaking with the volunteer so I was unable to confront him about deceiving me.

I am a 31-year old man and had specially taken time out of my day in order to visit the center and learn about adaption. I do not have time to be a volunteer. During the entirety of both of my visits I did not act on my own in any way. I always asked a volunteer or employee for permission or instructions. This is a center that killed 1086 out of 1801 cats last year, according to the city website. While all of the young volunteers I spoke with were courteous and willing to answer my questions, it strikes me as completely contrary to the stated policies of this governmental agency to have this official...

4 yrs ago we adopted what we were told was a 2 yr old black mounth cur mix. It was when you had to make an appt due to covid. We took our Shephard mix with us for a meet. They were fine together. I was told the the dog was fine with other dogs and they had never had a problem. So home with us he went. First week was fine. We realized though that he wasn't a 2 yr old house trained dog as they has indicated but a puppy who didn't pee and poop inside. We were ok with that. By week 2 he was aggressive toward our dog and per the agreement, if it wasn't working out to return the animal. We read the vet records that came with the contract and there toward the end after the mumbo jumbo it said that he was brought to the vet and treated for fighting with other dogs at the shelter. When we took him back we explained that one on one he's a good dog and may do best with a household with no other animals and no small children. Today we went to pick out a new pup. We have a lot of land and a decent sized house. We filled out the application and went to look at the dogs. When we were ready we came back up front and was told to see the lady up at the front desk and make sure we're approved. She brought up our Shephard who passed away from cancer and then questioned the last time we were there. She said that the records showed they told us the dog wasn't a good fit and that we insisted it was fine. If they truly thought and said that then why did they adopt him out to us......money..... The truth is they never said a word. In fact the lady who was with us back then mentioned how good they were getting along. Everytime I tried to speak that rude lady interrupted me. She said they would need to see all of our now passed dogs records before they can decide. Something that should be in the "How to adopt an animal" section of the website. I would have been more that happy to bring them. My issue is the lying from the last time we were there. There records show nothing but mistruths, lies and made up reasons. No one there cares about these animals. We would have given anyone of those pups a great forever home but for some reason, lies from 4 years ago made against us have prevented that from happening. So don't ever talk about how full your shelter is. It's because of lies & untruthful representatives who needed a reason to put the dog we brought back up for adoption again without having to mention the aggressive behavior. Sad because some of those sweet pups will be adopted to persons who shouldn't own a plant let...

Go in with reasonable expectations and understanding of how things work at a shelter and this is a wonderful business.

My family has adopted a total of six pets from the shelter in the years we've lived in Tallahassee, most recently this week I adopted a stray I turned into them last month. The staff is professional and on top of things, they kept in good communication during the quarantine and pre adoption process, and they made the adoption process as quick and painless as possible.

To answer a few of the reviews I've seen here:

As mentioned I've used this shelter several times over the last ten years. During that time yes I've met some rude people who work there. One worker was actually so snide she made my mother cry. That is a small percentage of the staff however, and you will see people with similar attitudes in just about every medium to large size business. The majority of the people I've known there are friendly and professional and really care about the animals. Also keep in mind these are government workers and most likely extremely over worked and underpaid.

Someone mentioned a 76% kill rate which I don't believe is accurate but I can't find sources confirming or disproving that. However from what I have been told they only euthanize animals for health reasons or if they will be unable to be adopted due to social reasons.

Some of the reviews mentioned animals getting sick after the fact. This is a very sad and unfortunate risk of adopting a shelter pet but it does exist and they Service Center makes it perfectly and blatently clear that while the animal may not appear symptomatic it sometimes take several weeks for symptoms to appear and it's impossible for them to know the exact medical condition with every pet, and once you've adopted the animal it's your responsibility. It's the same as purchasing a dog from a kennel that may have genetic predispositions to diseases later in life. Again it is stated perfectly clearly on your adoption questionnaire if you bother to read the whole thing.

To sum up this is a good organization with dedicated people working there. Is it perfect? No. But, I live with six animals I wouldn't have without them and the services they provide and, going in knowing the realities of how shelter's work, I couldn't be much happier with my...