Building a Better Future For Animals

Help us build a new home for low-cost veterinary care and spay/neuter.

This project is for a new 17,000 square foot veterinary hospital for Clay Humane, an established low/nocost veterinary clinic in Orange Park, Clay County, Florida.

Clay Humane has been one of North Florida's most impactful and enduring animal welfare initiatives fornearly 50 years. Since our inception, we have sterilized more than 125,000 animals and provided lowcostor free veterinary care to tens of thousands more, including after-hours urgent care patients. Wehave served as a voice for the animals through campaigns in our communities and in our schools aimedat fostering humane attitudes toward all living creatures. Over the years, hundreds of orphaned orinjured wildlife species have also been rehabilitated and successfully returned to their native habitatswith the hope of preserving nature for the generations that follow. And with only smiles as payment,groups of dedicated volunteers have visited seniors in nursing homes and lent crucial assistance todisabled and disadvantaged persons with pets. In everything we do, we are always dedicated to ourmission to promote compassion.

It is estimated that more than half the global population shares their lives with one or more pets.Nationally, higher fees for pet services and products, that compound an already inflated cost of living,have led to an increase in shelter intakes and "economic euthanasias." The challenging economy makesit especially tough on animals, with many households having to make difficult decisions between familyneeds and pet needs. As such, in larger than normal numbers, these difficult times have brought manyfamilies struggling to afford crucial veterinary care for their pets to our doors. Clay Humane exists tobridge this gap. By keeping our services affordable and available to everyone, we provide an alternativeto families having to make devastating choices for their pets.

Our mission is simple yet powerful: to promote the humane treatment of animals through education, advocacy, and service.

Clay Humane has always been here to answer the call. Founded on the principle of providing highquality, affordable veterinary care to our community, Clay Humane has many programs in place to helpprotect the human-animal connection and keep pets out of our shelters. In 2025, we helped ourcommunity with the following programs:

LOW COST CLINIC

Our clinic was open to provide affordable and critical care for over 74,000 pets for vaccinations, illness, emergency and surgical appointments.

AFTER HOURS URGENT CARE

Our weekend urgent clinic helped more than 2000 patients atsignificantly reduced costs. This is especially important because staff shortages have forced theclosure/ limited hours of many area pet emergency clinics, leaving pet owners with no optionsfor after-hours care. Costs of emergency facilities are also significantly greater and is, therefore,not affordable for many pet owners. Clay Humane uses our resources and staff to fill this voidand help our community.

PET FOOD BANK

We continued our year-round pet food distribution center for pet parentsfacing economic hardship. We also combined efforts with area food pantries to help reachthose most in need people in Clay County.

LOW COST / FREE SPAY & NEUTER

We performed several thousand feral cat sterilizations incooperation with Clay County Animal Services while maintaining our regular low cost spay andneuter program for all animals. When the county's program ended, we absorbed the costs tocontinue the free community program on our own - sterilizing another 2200 cats in thesubsequent months. The program continues today.

INDIGENT CARE PROGRAM

We provided free veterinary care through our indigent careprogram which further assists those under temporary financial strain. This program prevents thesenseless suffering of pets caused by prolonged illness, shelter surrender, or unnecessaryeuthanasia simply because of an inability to pay for vital care.

Building a better future for animals

Clay Humane has long been the center of pet care in Northeast Florida and with the new facility, they plan to make that official. As companion animal ownership has increased and clients expect the highestlevel of care, the need for a dedicated, centralized treatment facility has become increasingly clear.CCHS treats over 12,000 cases annually, with patients coming from across the First Coast area. The newcenter will allow the Society to increase that capacity and streamline access to care for tens ofthousands more. Adding this state-of-the-art facility would bring together the best in medical, surgical and diagnostic care under one roof and would enhance treatment, advocacy and education forcompanion animals across the Southeast. The project not only expands Clay Humane's capacity to carefor pets, but it also allows them to train the next generation of veterinarians through a teaching hospital program to be realized as part of this endeavor. For both staff and community, the Clay Humane pet center will represent more than an expansion of facilities; it's a commitment to excellence in veterinary medicine and the unfaltering protection of the human-animal bond.

The goal of this project is to increase the capacity of the facility and thus the capacity of veterinary care to adequately provide low or no cost veterinary services for the northeast Florida region. Additionally, the new facility will provide externship opportunities through a partnership with Lincoln Memorial College for their veterinary students creating immediate "pipeline" for new veterinarians. The nature of this project will need to be a high-performance building using sophisticated medical grade mechanical systems. "Fear Free" Veterinary Design Standards will be incorporated to the maximum amount possible in the design of this new facility. LS3P has been working with this client providing no cost/ pro- bono design and consulting services since 2017. The result of these efforts, to date, is a final approved site and floor plan and conceptual exterior elevations. LS3P has also been assisting Clay Humane with estimates of probable costs, and fund raising. The project is a real project that is ready to move forward immediately.