A History of the Tampa Bay Humane Society

A scientist at the Institute for Human Machine Cognition, Dominic D’Agostino spends his days doing research on the ketogenic diet and its effects on human health and performance. In addition to his research on ketone nutrition and supplementation, Dominic D’Agostino is an active member of his community, supporting various causes such as the Humane Society of Tampa Bay (HSTB).

HSTB was founded in 1912, but it did not have a proper home until the 1920s, when it was bequeathed a two-story home and surrounding property. The animal shelter operated at this location for four decades, until the current shelter was built in the 1960s. HSTB added kennels to the operation in the 1980s, which allowed it to care for more dogs.

Starting in 2000, HSTB opened a low-cost spay and neuter clinic that gave many local residents access to services they could not previously afford. Four years later the shelter officially became a no-kill facility, and also joined the ASPCA: Mission Orange program in 2007.

From 2008 to 2019, HSTB achieved a number of its goals by opening an affordable wellness clinic and later combining it with the spay and neuter clinic to form an affordable full-service veterinary option for local pet owners. It also broke ground on a new 50,000-square-foot facility in 2019 that will allow an even greater capacity for care.