SPCA Tampa Bay Partners with Tampa Bay Organizations to Provide Animal Welfare Resources to the Community

SPCA Tampa Bay is partnering with other nonprofit organizations in the region to teach the community about animal welfare and spread compassion for all creatures. Some local partners include Great Explorations Children’s Museum, Parc Center for Disabilities, and the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation. Through these partnerships and many others in the area, SPCA Tampa Bay is transforming the lives of animals through collaboration with our community.

SPCA Tampa Bay and Great Explorations Children’s Museum have partnered to create the “For All Animals” exhibit located inside of the children’s museum in St. Petersburg. The exhibit offers visitors learning opportunities focused on animal care, health, and safety. These hands-on learning experiences, designed to resonate with children, encourage discovery-based play and foster positive and respectful relationships with all animals. Through the exhibit, children can learn about various types of care for animals, like grooming pets and rehabilitating injured wildlife. There are many interactive components including a simulated MRI and X-ray machine to help children learn about veterinary care for pets. Additionally, the Great Explorations Children’s Museum offers a free monthly program called “Great Connections” exclusively for children with special needs and their families.

“My daughter Mackenzie is six. She is on the autism spectrum, and she loves animals and anything to do with learning about animals. She loves coming in here (to Great Explorations Children’s Museum) and playing with stuffed animals and pretending that she’s a vet. She gets to take care of them, wash and dry them, and wrap up their pretend injuries to heal them,” explained Elizabeth McCann, mother of Mackenzie and a frequent visitor of SPCA Tampa Bay’s exhibit at Great Explorations Children’s Museum. “For my daughter, having a place that she can just be calm and come in and have that sensory satisfaction of touching the plushies, but then also getting to be in her own imagination and pretend while she’s learning, she absorbs so much more information when she’s in a safe space like that.”

Another community partnership is between SPCA Tampa Bay and Parc Center for Disabilities. This partnership was developed to help adults with intellectual and developmental differences exercise their independence, while making a difference in the lives of shelter animals. The Parc Center for Disabilities adult day program participants make puzzle toys and treats for the animals awaiting their homes at SPCA Tampa Bay. When the group finishes their batch of animal enrichment, they deliver the treats to the shelter in Largo and even get to hand out some of the toys to the animals. Through this partnership, SPCA Tampa Bay staff can focus on the care of the animals, while still having a steady stream of puzzle toys and treats coming in for the animals to enjoy in their kennels.

“The participants at Parc Center for Disabilities love making enrichment treats for the animals. They know they are doing something well and really enjoy getting to deliver their hard work to the animals here at the shelter, while seeing the animals benefit from what they work so hard on. It is really a win-win for everybody involved,” said Lisa Blackburn, Director of Volunteer Engagement at Parc Center for Disabilities.

In early July, SPCA Tampa Bay partnered with the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation, a children’s literacy nonprofit based in south St. Petersburg, to bring stories and themes centered around animal care to their Math-Art-Science-Technology-Reading (M.A.S.T.R.) Kids Program scholars. Local Author Norma Roth read her book Lovable Lucy’s Big Day to the students, as they discussed caring for pets and how to help new animals feel comfortable in the home. Afterwards, they met with an SPCA Tampa Bay alumni rabbit named Garfield!

SPCA Tampa Bay is always looking to partner with organizations and businesses in the community who are equally passionate about creating a community where every animal matters. If you’d like to become a community partner, please visit spcatampabay.org/community-resources for more information.

To view some video stories featuring SPCA Tampa Bay’s community partners, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@SPCATampaBay/videos.


For press inquiries, please contact Kristen Davis, Director of Marketing and Communications at 727-499-0370 or kdavis@spcatampabay.org.