About LEASH

Thank you for your support

Our Mission

Our mission is to assist low-income Lake County FL residents by providing access to free dog spay/neuter programs, provide traps for trap/neuter/vaccinate/return of community cats, free microchipping of dogs and cats, and thru our partnerships with local veterinarians/shelters/rescues provide heartworm prevention and treatment. We believe that thru our efforts we can reduce the number of unwanted animals in our community and help insure the health and safety of all animals.

Our History

LEASH, Inc was established in 2015 to improve the life of the animals at Lake County Animal Shelter. The founders, Whitney Luckhart, Lisa Richardson & Michelle Ballings, met and bonded as volunteers at the shelter. Our first fundraiser was in the fall of 2014. Many of the dogs did not have elevated Kuranda beds to keep them off the cold concrete floors of the kennels. A successful garage sale and community support provided Kuranda beds for ALL of the shelter dogs. LEASH, Inc was conceived with the purpose to provide a variety of opportunities for individuals to volunteer and to contribute positively to the homeless animals at the shelter. In 2018, our focus moved from adoption events to providing assistance to Lake County Florida residents.

Leash Recent Activities

In 2021 the Covid-19 pandemic continued but LEASH was still able to help shelter animals and financially challenged Lake County pet owners. The Dog Spay and Neuter certificate program expanded, as well as free pet microchipping. LEASH entered a partnership with Cornerstone Hospice so that we can help support their patients in taking care of their pets. LEASH also showed an increase in TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) of feral cats and introduced a standard training class for our community trappers. A big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers and below are the highlights of 2021:

Over 500 free dog Spay/Neuter certificates were provided to financially challenged Lake County residents since the beginning of the program in late 2019. In 2021 alone, LEASH spent over $16,000 on this program
4,348 hours were spent by LEASH volunteers in fostering cats to prepare them for finding their forever home.

Nearly 750 hours were spent in TNR training and assisting community trappers so that feral cats can be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and returned to their community home.

In partnership with Misfits Veterinary Clinic, over 300 pets were microchipped as part of the LEASH microchipping project.
LEASH provided over $6,600 in veterinary medical assistance to Lake County animal shelters, rescues, or Cornerstone Hospice.

To help pay for these LEASH programs, we received $30,150 in donations and $3,500 in grants in 2021.