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2023 has been a disappointment

Since 2011 we’ve been working to get the Pets’ Trust Plan implemented.  A combination of events in 2023 gave us reason to hope that we had a good chance for an October 1, 2023 start date.  Sadly, it was only false hope.

The year started with Doug Hanks’ extensive multi-page report on conditions at the Animal Shelter.  That press helped convince Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins to invite Michael Rosenberg to speak to the BCC on March 7th, and later in that same meeting, Commissioner Cohen Higgins led the BCC in a much overdue discussion on animal welfare. A few months later, Commissioner Raquel Regalado spoke at a Kendall Federation Town Hall meeting where she promised to support the Pets’ Trust.  The Animal Services department was in the news again when its director was suspended (while this suspension is not directly related to the Pets’ Trust Plan, any news stories related to the plight of stray animals adds pressure to the BCC). Later, the overload of animals in the Doral shelter caused the County to put some animals in the old Medley facility, which angered enough animal rights activists to organize a peaceful protest. It seemed there was a lot of focus on animals and some Commissioners were noticing.

While Rita Schwartz was organizing a rally to be held outside County Hall hours before the September 7th BCC budget meeting, we were blindsided by crippling lies from The Miami Herald and a local politician whose husband is a leading community veterinarian. These were the same lies created by greedy veterinarians to kill the Pets’ Trust Plan in 2013. Regardless, the rally was well attended and filled the Commission Chamber with about 80 red-shirted supporters, many of whom spoke their one-minute opinions to the Commissioners.

But nothing happened. We’ve been told that Commissioner Kionne McGhee took over ownership of the Pets’ Trust legislation from termed-out Commissioner Sally Heyman, and he is perversely using an arcane BCC rule to block other Commissioners from discussing the Plan, let alone moving it forward. Weeks earlier, Commissioner Regalado had asked Commissioner McGhee for a Sunshine Meeting to discuss the legislation, but Commissioner McGhee ignored her request. Why Commissioner McGhee promised he would support the Pets’ Trust while he was campaigning, and now he uses his position to block its progress is confounding. Similarly, Mayor Cava made similar promises, which she continues to ignore.

The final budget meeting for the County’s next fiscal year was held today, September 21, 2023. The Pets’ Trust Plan was not funded. Our best hope for funding is now another year away.

We are disappointed as the BCC’s inaction allows more stray, homeless and abandoned animals to reproduce at an alarming rate. Animals keep suffering on our watch. God help the animals. God bless the rescue groups who toil and sacrifice daily for the animals.


Don’t miss our BLOG with recent stories. Click here.


The Pets’ Trust plan was never implemented

The Pets’ Trust Plan to focus on reducing the county’s stray animal population that was approved by voters on November 6, 2012 still has not been implemented!

The Pets’ Trust plan is all about preventing stray animals from reproducing. Yes, our beloved and cared for pets need access to low-cost sterilization surgeries, but the main focus needs to be on homeless and abandoned animals.

Almost 500,000 people—65% of the voters agreed to a small property tax increase averaging only $20 per year per house for only four years to fund a comprehensive set of activities, mostly focused on increasing spaying and neutering surgeries on pets and stray animals from about 20,000 per year to 100,000 per year. Watch how our elected officials reneged on their promises and snubbed us. They said we didn’t know what we were voting for. Lied to by local veterinarians and led by then Mayor Carlos Gimenez (now US Congressman Gimenez) the following eight County Commissioners Voted NO on July 16, 2013 rejecting the voters’ wishes. Our legislators simply didn’t honor their previous promises. They didn’t honor the votes of our community.

It’s not too late. Please contact our current Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava and your County Commissioner and tell them to implement the Pets’ Trust plan now. Please make these two calls or send two emails in an effort to reduce the needless suffering of stray animals.


“Every day I am in crisis,” said Animal Services Director Bronwyn Stanford during a Miami Herald interview in the $15 million shelter

Call Mayor Cava and tell her to implement the Pets’ Trust solution!


Over 15 years the Animal Services budget has tripled and the results are the same. The County’s plan is not working. We need The Pets’ Trust Plan now!

Budget and Results

In the chart above you can see that the extra MILLIONS of dollars going into the shelter each year in the past 16 years have not made much of an impact. In 2023, with a budget of $37 million dollars, 33,000 animals are expected to come into the shelter with an additional untold THOUSANDS turned away. In 2009, we spent $8.5 million dollars for the same intake, 33,000 animals.

Now, 16 years after 2009, we have a budget of almost $30 million dollars more…showing the SAME RESULTS that we had 16 years ago. The adoptions are also expected to be the same as 16 years ago. Spay/neuter surgeries went up, but are still four to five times lower than they should be if we are serious about lowering the animal overpopulation explosion which IS the cause of this entire problem.

The number of employees and cost per animals are simply mind blowing when comparing 2009 and 2023. We are back where we started from, and again, it only cost us an extra $30 million dollars per year to get there!!!

Remember, the funding for the Pets’ Trust Plan was not for the Miami-Dade Animal Shelter that has its own budget. The Pets’ Trust Plan called for a variety of programs, vetted by over thirty national experts, that would lessen the stresses and crises for the employees of Miami-Dade Animal Services and help the animals both inside AND outside the shelter. (Do not forget those hundreds of thousands of animals on the streets of Miami-Dade County. Their suffering is unbearable!)

We ask Mayor Cava, why did you wholeheartedly support the Pets’ Trust Plan in 2020 when you campaigned for Mayor (and also during both of your two previous campaigns for Commissioner) but now you’re so vehemently against it? Do you see success in the Budget and Results numbers? Do these number make you happy? Do you think they make your constituents happy?

Please Mayor Cava, Fund the Pets’ Trust now! Voters are protesting your inaction.

 

Letter published in the Miami Herald May 16, 2023

Letter published in the Miami Herald August 16, 2023

Letter published in the Miami Herald August 29, 2023

Letter published in the Miami Herald August 29, 2023

Editorial published in the Miami Herald September 3, 2023. We take issue with this editorial because it implies that we, the Pets’ Trust organization, are asking that the funds for the Plan be given to us. That’s not true. Click here to read our position.

Letter published in the Miami Herald September 3, 2023

Letter published in the Miami Herald September 6, 2023

This letter published in the Miami Herald September 7, 2023 is our REBUTTAL to the Miami Herald’s September 3rd Editorial asking about, “handing over such a large sum” which implies that money would be given to us, Pets’ Trust Miami, a 501(c)(3) organization. Shame on the Editorial Board for deliberately misleading the public. Shame on Mayor Cava for not correcting the Editorial Board when she was asked about the funds. Click here to read more about it.


The Pets’ Trust plan is a citizens’ initiative to improve animal welfare, increase adoptions, provide educational programs and mostly focus on decreasing overpopulation by aggressively spaying and neutering not just our pets, but also the stray animals in the county.


The Pets’ Trust Explained – Ten Years Later


For over a year all 13 Miami-Dade Commissioners and the Mayor supported the Pets’ Trust. However, July 16, 2013 became the worst day for our animals in the history of Miami-Dade county, when 8 of the commissioners and the Mayor refused to honor the will of the people.

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About Pets' Trust


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The Pets' Trust Mission & Goals

Pets’ Trust Miami is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of volunteers focused primarily on reducing the stray animal population in Miami-Dade County. Starting in 2010, the county’s Animal Services Department was receiving almost 30,000 dogs and cats each year, and thousands of these adoptable animals were killed at the shelter simply because of a lack of space. More than 500,000 stray cats and countless dogs live on our streets with tens of thousands facing death every year as they struggle to survive in a hostile environment.

You can find more about our history here.

32 national animal experts, including leaders of the county’s Animal Services Department, developed a comprehensive, yet simple plan to address the animal overpopulation problem. Click here to read the Pets’ Trust Plan they created. . This Plan includes components to improve animal welfare, increase adoptions, provide financial assistance for private rescue groups, provide public educational programs and MOSTLY focus on decreasing overpopulation by aggressively spaying and neutering not just our pets, but also the stray animals in the county. In 2012 the annual property tax increase to implement the plan averaged only $20 per home; today it’s estimated to be only $11 per home.

Working with the then Mayor and all 13 County Commissioners, we obtained agreement to let the County Attorney write the specific language to put on the ballot, and if the voters approved the plan, then the plan would be funded and implemented.

Before the vote, to expose the problem to the community Michael Rosenberg spent 48 hours in a cage at the Animal Services Department. Michael Putney from WPLG Channel 10 interviewed Michael while he was in the cage. Watch the interview here:

On November 6, 2012, The Pets’ Trust plan was overwhelmingly approved by almost 500,000 or 65% of the voters! With their decision, the voters agreed to a slight property tax increase of approximately $20 per house that would provide approximately $20 million per year to fully fund the plan.

We thought we were on the way to solving the stray animal overpopulation problem. But frustratingly on July 16, 2013 our then County Commissioners and Mayor REFUSED to implement the plan, even though they previously promised that they would. Why did they refuse to implement the plan? Because…

…OUR LOCAL VETERINARIANS KILLED the Pets’ Trust plan

Ask your veterinarian if she or he is a member of the South Florida Veterinary Medical Association, and if so, why did they fight to kill the Pets’ Trust plan which would have focused on preventing stray animals from reproducing? Convince your veterinarian to write to their Commissioner and Mayor and insist that the Pets’ Trust plan finally be implemented. It’s long past time that our community professionals who are focused on animal welfare support our homeless, suffering animals.

It’s been more than ten years since the voters approved the plan. In that time we’ve had two Mayors and many County Commissioners. Each year, the current Mayor could have pushed to implement the plan and the current Commissioners could have approved it in their annual budget. But sadly, our democratically elected leaders continually have refused to implement our democratically approved plan.

We say it’s never too late. Over these many years the Animal Services Department’s annual budget has increased from $9 million to $35 million—more than enough to implement the plan. Their number of employees has more than doubled. And yet, still, to this day, there are no teams of Animal Services employees working to go out into the community to trap stray animals so they can be spayed or neutered and returned to the wild. That process was the core of our plan—a plan jointly developed by Animal Services leaders and us.

Quoting from the plan, “Pet sterilizations are essential for the long-term reduction of a community’s unwanted/abandoned pets and to reduce dog and cat intake.”

More than half of the $20 million plan budget is for cost-effective sterilization clinics (not new brick and mortar buildings but rather inexpensive rented warehouses). It’s been more than a decade since the voters approved the plan and our Mayors and Commissioners have failed to implement it. Throughout this time homeless animals have been reproducing unabated. The animal population is growing so much that Animal Services Director Bronwyn Stanford says every day is a CRISIS—EVERY DAY!

Director Stanford, Mayor Cava and our 13 Commissioners know the answer because our County Government participated heavily in developing the plan. They know that frequently closing the shelter and focusing mostly on adoptions is not controlling the problem. They know with every animal they refuse to accept into the shelter that they cannot pretend that Miami-Dade is a “no kill” county. Yes, they may be killing fewer animals inside the shelter, but it’s only because they’re not allowing needy animals to enter. Closing the doors forces animals to suffer and die on the streets.

What are they waiting for to finally implement the plan?

So here we are in continuing to advocate for the plan—our plan, developed jointly by Animal Services, volunteers from Pets’ Trust Miami and other community members. Please, contact your Commissioner and Mayor and insist that they finally implement the Pets’ Trust Plan to reduce our stray animal population and reduce the suffering of these animals.


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Click here to read our entire plan of action
written by Miami-Dade Animal Services which is a
collaborative document we contributed to and it has the nuts and bolts of our plan.


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There are many ways to volunteer and we always appreciate any help we can get! So, reach out to us and find out more about how you can get involved.

Contact details
info@petstrustmiami.com
Rita 305.491.5651 or Michael 305.439.3571