Comparison
Humane Society of Tampa Bay or the county Pet Resource Center?
The short answer
The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is a private non profit with two campuses, an animal hospital, a spay and neuter clinic, a food pantry and community cat work. The Pet Resource Center is Hillsborough County’s open admission shelter, and animal control is a separate county department again. Which to call depends on what you need done.
Everything below about the Pet Resource Center comes from hcfl.gov, read on 2026-09-15. Nothing here is characterised from memory and no claim is made about the county’s work that it does not publish itself.
What is the difference between the two shelters?
One is a charity, one is a county service, and the distinction shows up in what each can promise.
The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is a private non profit running two campuses, a public AAHA accredited animal hospital, a low cost spay and neuter clinic, a free pet food pantry and a TNVR programme. Its published position on intake is that shelter space is limited and availability cannot always be guaranteed, and that people should explore rehoming and support options first.
Hillsborough County’s Pet Resource Center describes itself as the only open admission shelter in the county, accepting domestic animals regardless of breed, size or medical condition. That is a guarantee about intake, and it is the reason a county shelter exists.
Neither model is better. They do different jobs, and Tampa has both.
Which one should I call?
| What you need | Where to start |
|---|---|
| Adopt a dog or cat | Either. Both list adoptable animals and both adopt daily |
| Surrender a pet with nowhere else to go | Pet Resource Center, which is open admission |
| Help so that you do not have to surrender | Humane Society of Tampa Bay, for food, clinic and rehoming support |
| Low cost spay, neuter or vaccination | Humane Society of Tampa Bay clinic |
| Community or feral cats | Humane Society of Tampa Bay TNVR programme |
| A dangerous dog, a bite, cruelty, an ordinance | Neither shelter. Animal Control, in the county’s Code Enforcement department |
| A lost pet | Both, and check both, daily |
That last row is the one people get wrong most often. A lost pet can be at either shelter and the two hold separate listings.
Who handles animal control in Hillsborough County?
Not the Pet Resource Center, which says so on its own page. Animal control sits with the Animal Control division of Code Enforcement, which handles pet ordinances and citations and investigates reports of abuse, dangerous animals and dog bites.
Nor is the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, which is a charity rather than an enforcement agency.
Is one of them free?
Neither is free, and both publish fees. The county shelter and the Humane Society both charge adoption fees, and the Humane Society publishes clinic fees as well: cat spay at $105, dog surgeries by weight, TNVR at $35 a cat.
Fees at the Humane Society go back into the animals in the building, which is the ordinary economics of a charity rather than a claim about anybody else.
If I have lost a pet, do I need to check both?
Yes, and keep checking. Animals arrive at both shelters daily and neither can see the other’s kennels.
Found animals at the Humane Society are held for a full seven day stray hold, including when a microchip is unregistered or leads nowhere, a policy it widened in 2026 from the three day county ordinance. It reports 715 pets reunited with their families in the last year.
Which one takes cats living outside?
Neither should, if the cat is a healthy community cat, and that is the honest answer rather than a plug. A community cat removed from its territory is replaced by another cat within weeks.
TNVR is the programme that deals with this properly: trapped, sterilised, vaccinated, ear tipped and returned. The community cats page covers how to tell a community cat from a lost one.
Can I adopt from both?
Yes, and it is worth looking at both listings. The two shelters hold different animals, both update daily, and an adopter with a particular dog in mind is better served checking two lists than one.
Adoption here is same day and first come, first served, with fees and steps on the dog adoption page.
Questions we get asked
Is the Humane Society of Tampa Bay part of the county?
No. It is an independent private non profit and receives no operating funding from being a county department, because it is not one. The Pet Resource Center is the county shelter.
Is it part of the national Humane Society?
Local humane societies are independent organisations rather than branches of a national body. Donations here stay with this shelter.
Which one euthanises animals?
Both shelters publish their own policies and both face the same arithmetic of space and medical need. Ask each directly rather than relying on a summary, including a summary written here.
Where do I take a stray dog I have found?
Report it quickly and get it scanned for a microchip. Either shelter can scan, and intake hours at the Humane Society are 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM daily. The main guide has both campuses and their numbers.
Come and see us
Adoptions are same day and first come, first served at both campuses. Clinic and intake services are by appointment, and the team will talk through the options before anything is decided.
Keep reading
- Help for pets and their people in Tampa BayWhat the Humane Society of Tampa Bay offers pets and their people: adoption, low cost spay and neuter, vaccines, vet care, food assistance and TNVR.
- What spaying or neutering a pet costs in TampaPublished spay and neuter fees at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay clinic for cats, dogs and rabbits, plus how appointments, deposits and drop off work.
- All guidesEvery guide on hstb.org in one place.
Last reviewed Humane Society of Tampa Bay