Pet Surrenders & Returns

Returning Your LCHS Adoptee Pet

The Leon County Humane Society stands by our animals for life. This means we will always accept animals adopted from our program back into our program. If you must return your adopted pet, please contact the LCHS office at (850) 224-9193 ASAP. If you get our voicemail, leave your information and we will be in touch within 24 hours. In order to accept a pet back into our program we must make arrangements for their housing. Please provide as much notice as possible.

Surrendering Your Pet

The Leon County Humane Society is a private, non-profit, limited intake animal rescue organization. We are generally unable to accept pets from the public. The cats and dogs that enter our program primarily come from animal shelters and other rescue organizations.

The only open intake facility in our area is the City of Tallahassee Animal Shelter, which receives approximately 25 animals per day. The Animal Shelter has limited space and does euthanize when maximum capacity is reached. Please know that the only way to make sure that your pet ends up in a situation with which you are comfortable is to find him/her a new home yourself.

IMPORTANT: If your pet has not been altered, PLEASE spay or neuter before adopting him or her into a new home. There is assistance available that makes it very inexpensive for you to make sure that your pet does not contribute to the pet overpopulation problem and altered pets are more attractive to new owners. Spay and neuter assistance is available from several organizations in Tallahassee.

Behavior Problems with Your Pet

If you are experiencing a behavior problem with your pet that is forcing you to consider surrendering, please visit our Pet Behavior Help Library first, which offers helpful tips and insight regarding common cat and dog behavior issues as well as additional assistance from pet behavior counselors.

If You Are Experiencing Financial Hardship

If you are experiencing financial difficulties and are unable to care for your pet, please consider the following resources available:

Some Tallahassee veterinarians will work with you regarding your pet’s medical costs, and the amount that a vet charges for a procedure may vary quite a bit between different vets. It is a good idea to check with several vet clinics before deciding if you can or can’t afford what your pet needs.

The low-cost veterinary clinic in Tallahassee is called Animal Aid. They have lower costs for routine veterinary procedures and may also be able to offer you a payment plan. You can reach Animal Aid at 850-386-4148.

Where Did You Acquire Your Pet?

Before making any attempts to rehome your pet, contact the rescue, person, breeder, or whoever you got the animal from. Oftentimes they will take the animal back into their care the same as we would, and you may have even signed a contract saying you will contact them if you are unable to care for them in the future, especially if they are a responsible breeder or rescue.

Family and Friends

Family and friends can be a great resource when trying to find a new home for your pet. Check with them first to see if anyone is available to assist you. This can be especially useful if you just need a temporary place for your pet to stay.

If you are a member of a church, athletic league, networking group, country club, book club, gym, or frequent local restaurants and coffee houses, be sure and share your pet’s story at these locations.

Create an email with good pictures of your pet and the story of why you must find him/her a new home, then send it to everyone on your contact list. Ask them to forward it on to everyone they know.

Craigslist/Facebook/Reddit

IMPORTANT: If you make your pet available for adoption on a public forum such as Facebook, Craigslist, or Reddit, it is usually best not to advertise the pet as free, as it tends to attract people who want your pet for the wrong reasons. Charging a small fee for a vetted pet can help prepare them for the reality of future vet costs and ensure they’ve given thought to what’s involved in caring for an animal.

Bottom line, you should be careful when offering your pet for adoption to people you don’t know. Many rescues put their adoption applications online; you can use these to help you screen potential adopters. A good way to judge if a person is a good adopter is to ask if you may do a home visit. Most people who are adopting for the right reasons will be open to this, while those trying to find an animal for the wrong reason will not.

Ask Your Vet

Most vets will let you put up a poster advertising your pet for adoption. It is also worth asking your vet if they are willing to put the animal up for adoption in their facility.

Our Intake Process

We are not an open-intake facility. We save approximately 1,000 animals a year and only take in as many animals as we have the resources to humanely provide care for including funding, fosters, space, etc. To inquire about our availability to intake an animal, please email photos, vet information, and a general description (Good with other animals? Children?) to one of our inboxes.

Cat intake inquiries: cats@leoncountyhumane.org

Dog intake inquiries: dogs@leoncountyhumane.org

Other Local Rescues and Shelters

Although most “no-kill” rescues are usually full, it is always worth asking if they have space or might make an exception. Sometimes they might have someone who is looking to adopt an animal specifically like yours or they have a foster parent with a fondness for a specific breed.

The City Animal Shelter

The City Animal Shelter is the open intake facility for our community and will take your pet if you are unable to find a new home on your own. The Animal Shelter should be a last resort and only used when you have exhausted all other avenues. They prefer to schedule surrenders, so do not wait until the last minute to bring your animal to the shelter. Make a surrender appointment in advance of your moving date, cancel it if you are able to successfully rehome them before that date.

The Tallahassee Animal Services Center can be reached at 850-891-2950 and is located at 1125 Easterwood Dr.

The City Animal Shelter also offers a rehoming service
and additional information on rehoming your pet here.

Animal Abandonment is Illegal

You cannot leave animals on our front porch, or in front of the open intake shelter on Easterwood, or at a vet office. Of course – leaving them at one of these locations is better than leaving them in the woods or worse, but it is still animal abandonment. To avoid potential charges, please utilize the resources on this page and remember that your last resort is the city shelter, NOT leaving them somewhere “safe” or setting them loose outside.

828.13 Confinement of animals without sufficient food, water, or exercise; abandonment of animals.—

(1) As used in this section:

(a) “Abandon” means to forsake an animal entirely or to neglect or refuse to provide or perform the legal obligations for care and support of an animal by its owner.

(b) “Owner” includes any owner, custodian, or other person in charge of an animal.

(2) Whoever:

(a) Impounds or confines any animal in any place and fails to supply the animal during such confinement with a sufficient quantity of good and wholesome food and water,

(b) Keeps any animals in any enclosure without wholesome exercise and change of air, or

(c) Abandons to die any animal that is maimed, sick, infirm, or diseased,

is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both imprisonment and a fine.

(3) Any person who is the owner or possessor, or has charge or custody, of any animal who abandons such animal to suffer injury or malnutrition or abandons any animal in a street, road, or public place without providing for the care, sustenance, protection, and shelter of such animal is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both imprisonment and a fine.