Marion County Animal Center
Marion County Animal Services is a department ofthe Marion County Board of County Commissioners
that offers animal shelter services to all of Marion County and animal control services to unincorporated areas and the City of Ocala. The Animal Center is Marion County’s only open admission shelter. This means the shelter doesn’t selectively accept only the most adoptable animals; no animal is turned away, regardless of how sick, old, aggressive or potentially undesirable it might be to some. Nearly 10,000 animals enter the shelter each year; some are strays or lost pets, some are rescues from cruelty cases and some are turned in by their owners who can’t or don’t want to care for them any longer.
Animal control officers enforce state laws and county ordinances relating to animals. Theyrescue injured, sick, or stray domestic animals and investigate aggressive attacks, as well as animal cruelties.
KEY SERVICES
- Animal adoptions.
- Lost/found pets.
- Low-cost spay/neuter service (Neuter Commuter).
- Rabies vaccines and microchips for public’s animals.
- Dog bite investigations.
- Animal cruelty investigations.
- Community outreach/public education.
- Volunteer and foster programs.
- Veterinarian technician internship programs.
- Veterinarian externship programs.
- Online lost pet and adoptable pet search.
MARION COUNTY FUNDING Funding sources include:
- General revenue (property tax, state shared sales tax and other state shared revenues).
- Fines/fees (adoption fees and license fees).
- Private donations (for special needs and cruelty cases).