While the city questioned the shelter's capacity, Carotenuto said she's focused helping owners keep their animals, rather than surrendering them.
In part because the Flagler Humane Society has no clear plans for expansion, the Palm Coast City Council wants to look at alternatives when the contract with FHS expires in September.
The FHS is an independent nonprofit organization that provides animal sheltering services to the City of Palm Coast as well as Flagler County. Of the 2,915 animals taken in during 2024, 1,707 were from Palm Coast residents.
City Council Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri, who also serves as an ex officio member of the FHS Board, said she has adopted a cat from the FHS in the past and wanted to focus on facts, rather than anecdotes of staff mistreating animals. But she indicated that the lack of financial planning was enough to question whether FHS should remain the city’s sole solution for picking up stray animals.
“I’m incredibly disturbed that there’s been no plan for expansion of our Humane Society,” Pontieri said. She added: “We need to take a hard look at some of our tax dollars to see if there are legitimate alternatives.”
Mayor Mike Norris, whose wife owns a pet care service, criticized the FHS for not making its board’s bylaws public, and for having two husband-wife duos on a six-person Board of Directors.
“That is called nepotism,” he said. “ … That is unacceptable for me personally and professionally.”
City Councilman Ty Miller said he was troubled by anecdotes and accusations of animal mistreatment that he had received via email. “This isn’t operating the way it should. … I would like to see alternatives.”
With regard to planning, FHS Executive Director Amy Carotenuto, who addressed the City Council Feb. 25, said that the organization’s focus has been on preventing situations in which residents feel the need to surrender their pets to the shelter.
“Expanding our programs is always the priority,” she said. “We’d rather have people keep their pets, rather than just expanding.”
COMMUNITY’S ANIMALS
Founded in 1980, the Flagler Humane Society’s first building was built in 1982, with a new 15,000-square-foot building added in 2004. It’s the only open-admission shelter in the Flagler County, though there are several volunteer-run organizations such as SMART.
With 50,296 households in Flagler County today, there are about 68,000 pet cats and dogs, Carotenuto said.
For the past 10 years, the Flagler Humane Society has taken in an average of 1,052 stray or surrendered dogs per year, as well as 1,542 cats per year. The numbers have remained about the same year to year, despite great increases in human population locally.
The lack of increase in intake is likely due to a combination of factors: first, there are other organizations that actively help with stray or surrendered animals, SMART, led by a former FHS volunteer, Caroline Johnson; second, because of a robust education effort and programming that FHS has implemented to keep animals with their owners. That includes assistance for owners in crisis, temporary housing for animals, a pet food bank for owners who can’t afford to feed their pets, behavior modification guidance, and veterinary care.
“We focus on preventing animals from needing to be rescued in the first place,” Carotenuto said.
COSTS
According to Carotenuto, the FHS loses money every time it picks up a stray in Palm Coast. Therefore, if the city were to not renew its contract, the FHS would actually be better off financially, she said.
With an average animal staying about a month, it costs the Humane Society $500 to shelter a dog, and $344 to shelter a cat. If a stray dog is picked up in the City of Palm Coast, the city pays the FHS $95 for the initial care of the animal.
The amount of financial investment to shelter animals in Flagler County is about $400,000 between the county and city, compared with $2 million to $4 million in communities of similar size, according to research done by Animal Refuge Flagler, a group of concerned citizens.
ARF, represented by Wendy Trimarche, is advocating for a second, municipal shelter to be be built, to serve the animals better and to create health competition with the Humane Society.
“This is an urgent issue,” the presentation states.
NO-KILL SHELTER
The Humane Society is one of 80 no-kill shelters in Florida. “No-kill” means a shelter places 90% of its animals but still could euthanize 10%. According to the Animal Humane Society, “Due to severe or untreatable illnesses or behavior issues, animal welfare organizations (AHS included) sometimes face the difficult decision to euthanize an animal, but only when we’ve exhausted all other options.”
In 2023, according to the Humane Society’s presentation, 2,304 animals were saved.
The FHS saves closer to 95% of its animals.
“Everyone knows that’s our specialty: taking animals that are scared and make them adoptable,” Carotenuto said.
The Humane Society has 28 full-time and 19 part-time staff members, plus 150 volunteers.
NEXT STEP
Carotenuto advocated for the many programs delivered by her organization.
“The Flagler Humane Society is the first line of defense for animals, and we are also the heart of our community’s support system for animals,” she said.
Pontieri concluded her comments during the meeting by thanking the FHS for “a lot of great work. … I don’t want there to be this thought that nothing good has been done there.”
The City Council directed staff to seek a joint workshop in April with the county to collaborate on solutions beyond FHS.
