Humane Society of Manatee County offers free pet vaccines Saturday

MANATEE - Low-income Manatee County residents can take advantage of free pet vaccines at the Humane Society of Manatee County on Saturday.

The nonprofit is offering the free pet vaccines at the Pet Health Center, 2415 14th St. W., Bradenton, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Low-income residents living in the 34205 zip code may also qualify for free spay/neuter surgery for their pets.

"The reason why we are so much behind this here at the Humane Society of Manatee County is it fits directly into one of our missions, which is to prevent pet overpopulation and dogs unnecessarily ending up in the county shelter," said Rick Yocum, executive director of the Humane Society of Manatee County.

No appointments are required for Saturday's clinic but animals will be taken on a first come, first serve basis.

Mike Jones, Humane Society of Manatee County outreach coordinator, said they are expecting 300 pets to come through the clinic Saturday.

"This is to serve low income Manatee County residents," he said, adding that they are trying to have these events every quarter.

Saturday's event, which is the second time the nonprofit has done such an event, is part of the Pets for Life Manatee Program, which is made possible by the Bill and Maryann Vinall Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation.

"The goal of the program is to keep pets into their human families so that people don't have to give their animals up for lack of money," Yocum said. "This is a pet retention program and it is a very important program to us and it is an important program for the community here surrounding the Humane Society of Manatee County."

This is the last event as part of this $70,000 grant, Yocum said.

"This grant we hope will be ongoing because it really does serve the community that does need the help the most," he said.

For more information, call 941-747-8808 ext. 307.

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter@Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Humane Society of Manatee County offers free pet vaccines Saturday ."