City of St. Pete wins award, $30K grant for being pet friendly
By: Emily McCain
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The city of St. Petersburg won an award on Sunday for their pet friendly efforts. The $30,000 grant they also got was just a bonus!
Mayor Rick Kriseman announced the win on his Facebook page.
"Attention, St. Pete...we just won the 2019 Better Cities for Pets™ Award for large cities and a $30,000 grant to help us become even more pet friendly!"
The grant program, a joint partnership between Mars Petcare and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, began in 2018. It's part of the Better Cities for Pets initiative.
RELATED: St. Petersburg rolls out PAWS initiative to become a more pet-friendly city
The goal is to encourage more cities to think about how they can make their community more welcoming to pets.
"No one should be forced to choose between a pet and a place to live. Or skip healthy exercise because there's no pet-friendly green space," the Better Cities for Pet's website says. "Yet, pet owners face these challenges all the time. The BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program is helping cities be more pet-friendly so people and pets can have a better life together."
St. Pete joined the initiate in 2018 and rolled out St. Pete PAWS in February.
"Last year, we joined the Better Cities for Pets initiative, and I proclaimed St. Petersburg to be a pet-friendly city. This initiative follows up on that promise to do everything from reducing pet homelessness to having more businesses and restaurants welcoming to pets," Mayor Kriseman said at the time. "I hope you will take the time to visit our St. Pete PAWS webpage and review our St. Pete Pet Friendly map. Thank you for helping make the Sunshine City a place where pets are welcome and loved."