Animal Care & Protective Services

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Animal Care & Protective Services

Our mission is to take the lead in cultivating a community rooted in compassion and service that safeguards the wellbeing of humans & animals alike.
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We're dedicated to exemplifying and fostering compassion, reliability, and responsibility in Jacksonville. Animal Care & Protective Services is the City of Jacksonville's animal shelter. Monday - Saturday we receive anywhere from 50-100 dogs/cats per day. These animals are found stray, owner surrendered or saved from animal abuse situations. Please go to www.coj.net/pets to look at all of our lost

dogs and cats that we have. Please consider adopting a dog and/or cat from Animal Care & Protective Services. All of them need homes.

16/09/2025

💖 Tender, Amy, Hoover, Wallaby, Cheddar, Shaggy, Douglas, and Bruce all recently found amazing families. Congratulations, everyone!! 🐾

16/09/2025

‼️Fosters needed ‼️

We’ve gotten ‼️16‼️ kittens, all under the age of 4 weeks, into the shelter just this morning. If you’re able to help care for one or two, even for just an overnight, PLEASE come to 2020 Forest St. or email [email protected] ❤️ thank you for supporting us this kitten season—we couldn’t save lives without you!

15/09/2025

This past Saturday, Carol from Florida Service Dogs came to the shelter to lead a leash making class for volunteers and staff! She walked us through making custom leather “hands free” leashes, completely customized for each of us. Thank you, Carol, for generously donating your time and expertise! It was a great way to kick off the weekend 🥳

14/09/2025

remember Potato? This senior gal got a lot of shares on social media (thank you!!), but didn't get ANY in-person interest. 😢We're hoping to find her a foster or adopter who can help her get healthy. She needs eye medication and to lose a little weight, but these things are tough to do in a stressful shelter setting. What's not tough? Convincing our volunteers to give this old lady a little glow up! ✨

As if her makeover weren't enough to get the world's attention, Potato told us that in exchange for help administering her eye medications and giving her daily walks, she promises endless gratitude, gentle cuddles, and lots of love. 🥔❤️

If you have room in your heart and home to help this sweet girl continue to transform, please come meet her at Animal Care & Protective Services! We're located at 2020 Forest St in Jacksonville, Florida and we're open 7 days a week.

12/09/2025

introducing the goofiest of goofy goobers, River! ❤️

River is a staff favorite, and he’s made quite the comeback since May, when he came to the shelter injured and in severe shock 😢 thanks to a stay in a foster home, we know TONS about this “big 75 pound puppy” and we are sure his people are out there. River is:

💘 playgroup approved (has done well with dogs at the shelter)
💘 very very very smart—he learns new commands quickly, likes training, AND he already has a trainer willing to continue his training even after he gets adopted
💘 super high energy
💘 sweet and affectionate
💘 house and crate trained
💘 a BIG fan of Kong stuffed toys

And, of course, he’s excited to meet his people! We would LOVE to see this guy thrive in a foster home so he can learn more skills away from the stressful shelter. Ask to meet this goofball at 2020 Forest St. in Jacksonville, Florida. ❤️

12/09/2025

Come sail one of the seven seas! 🌊 Indian Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, and North Pacific Ocean, will be available to go home TONIGHT after their spay and neuter surgeries.

Get easily seasick? We have ‼️ 30 ‼️ puppies under a year old who are available for foster or adoption. Ask to meet them today—we're open until 7:00! 💗 🐾

11/09/2025

Let’s talk about ! 🐾💗

Our group walking program, Stroll Mates, is the perfect way for a team to participate in one of the most crucial parts of caring for our dogs: their daily walks. You bring the walking shoes, some water, a love for helping shelter dogs, and just a couple hours of your morning, and we’ll take care of the rest!

recently joined us and got ✨74✨ dogs out for long walks. We’re so glad they got to join us and our dogs LOVED the extra attention and exercise! Thank you all so much!!

If you’ve got a team interested in spending a morning with us, email [email protected] to get started. 🥰

11/09/2025

10/10 very good girl Apple Pie and her 5 babies need a foster home! 🍎 Gala, Mcintosh, Fuji, Red Delicious, and Honeycrisp (can you tell we love a fall theme?) are about 6 weeks old, so they only have about 2 weeks until they're old enough to be weaned and go to surgery. In the meantime, the shelter is a tough place to raise a litter, so we would LOVE if a foster stepped up to help her be more comfortable while she raises her puppies. Nursing momma dogs are actually pretty low-maintenance fosters—just set her up in a spare bedroom or bathroom and mom will do all the hard work! ❤️

Not able to take on a whole family? Check out our Trello board to see who else needs foster! https://tinyurl.com/ACPSFostersTrello

09/09/2025

Completely ✨ obsessed✨ and cannot keep this cuteness to ourselves. Fostering and adopting are what help us save lives (and they also lead to very very cute photo shoots to celebrate) 💖

09/09/2025

Calling all adopters!! 📣 Does your ACPS alum challenge the “typical” perception of shelter pets? Was their adoption an it’s-just-meant-to-be moment? Is your shelter pet a service animal, an athlete, or the best fetcher of all time?

Each year, Petco Love invites adopters to share their stories and show the world that the love of a shelter pet is truly like no other.

Share how your adopted pet’s unique love has changed your life by submitting photos (or videos!) to Petco Love Stories. You and your pet can win some cool prizes—AND our shelter can have the chance to earn up to $100,000 to help us save even more lives and find loving families find even more pets.

Learn more and submit your story at https://buff.ly/gwoWfwT 💜

08/09/2025

Tiny horse or super-cute super-smart puppy?? It’s hard to tell… 🧐

JSO called us this morning saying a dog had showed up at their training facility. They had a K9 training class scheduled, so she had to be safely contained until we got there. Imagine our officer’s surprise when they arrived and JSO led them to a horse stable!

Named Honey Bunz, this girl is very well cared for and already knows commands at 7(ish) months old, so we think she has an owner! If you recognize her, please come to the shelter. We really don’t have room at the shelter for a horse right now 🥴

08/09/2025

“Big Man” A1472064 was brought into the shelter on Friday night, found as an injured stray. 😢 He was so nervous that he had to be carried through the shelter at first, but now he walks well on leash and is super sweet (and a wee bit of an escape artist… ask us how we know 🤪). We would love to reunite him with his family—he’s on a stray hold until Wednesday and is eligible for prepay if he doesn’t go back home.

Is this sweet boy your pup?? Come ask about him at 2020 Forest St when we open at 12:00. We’ll even throw in the heart headband 💗

Address

2020 Forest Street
FL
32204

Opening Hours

Monday	12:00 - 19:00
Tuesday	12:00 - 19:00
Wednesday	12:00 - 19:00
Thursday	12:00 - 19:00
Friday	12:00 - 19:00
Saturday	10:00 - 18:00
Sunday	10:00 - 18:00

Telephone

+19046302489

Website

http://www.jacksonville.gov/pets, https://linktr.ee/acpsjax

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