This comes from Dr. Sara Pizano, who heads the department, and is deeply grateful to everyone who has helped save animal's lives.
Thank
you! Because of you, Animal Services saved more animals this year than any
other year in the history of the
Department!
ADOPTIONS
This year we shattered all adoption
records! 8,330 pets were adopted
into their forever homes. That’s a 266% increase since we became an independent
Department when 3,000 animals were adopted in one year (2004). That number also
represents a 30% increase over last year. On October 4th, 80 pets were adopted
in one day at our annual Birthday Party Adoption event celebrating the end of
our 4th year! Our next adoption event is Home for Every Holiday on Sunday, December
6th from 10am-3pm.
RESCUE
PARTNERS
We now have 51 approved and active
Rescue Partners that include 4 humane societies. A record breaking 3,888 were pulled this year! Thank you to
all our contacts and pullers who network continuously on behalf of our shelter
pets, drive all over the state, give up their weekends and guest rooms and make
a difference for so many pets!
TOTAL NUMBER OF
ANIMALS SAVED
13,719
animals were
saved in the FY 08/09, which was a combination of adoptions, return to owners
and transfers to Rescue Partners. 3,092 more animals were saved in
08/09 as compared to 07/08. Unfortunately, the return to owner rate has
essentially flatlined for 3 years so please continue to encourage people to
microchip their pets. We now offer microchipping to the public for $10 that
includes registration.
PUPPY FOSTER
CARE
In October of 2008, we began our
Puppy Foster Care program. Shelter Volunteers attend an advanced orientation
and care for puppies less than 8 weeks old. When old enough, the puppies are
returned for an adoption event or go straight to the Humane Society of Broward
County to get spayed and neutered then to their Boca Raton satellite adoption center. Over 200
young puppies who would have otherwise been euthanized were saved by our foster
volunteers.
INTAKE
RECORD
Unfortunately another record broken
was the intake record. For the fiscal year 2008/2009, 37,340 animals were
abandoned at our shelter. We are working on several initiatives to decrease
shelter intake discussed below. But one noteworthy and significant
accomplishment was that even though the intake number increased by 3,000
animals, the euthanasia percentage decreased from 63 to 57%. Typically when
intake increases, so does the percentage
euthanized.
ANIMAL SERVICES
FOUNDATION
The Animal Services Foundation has
been created and each commissioner has appointed a board member. We are now
working towards the 501c3 status. The mission and goal of the Foundation is to
create programs that decrease shelter intake that will ultimately decrease
euthanasia. We have many model communities across the country that have
drastically decreased shelter intake with aggressive and targeted spay/neuter
programs.
OWNER SURRENDER
SURVEY
Thanks to a partnership with the
University of
Miami School of Law-HOPE
club, we will be conducting a survey of 500 owners who are relinquishing their
pets. Beyond the standard questions, we are looking to determine what might
prevent an owner from surrendering, so we can develop programs to assist pet
owners keep their pets.
NEW
FACILITY
We are currently looking at a Doral
warehouse to be retrofitted for our needs. Plans are for a state of the art
shelter that will be 100% under air. A contract is now being prepared that
will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners for
approval.
MADDIE’S
FUND
Along with the Humane Society of
Greater Miami/Adopt-a-Pet, The Cat Network, Friends Forever Rescue and Pet
Rescue, our coalition received a Starter Grant for $30,000 in January of 2009.
Animal Services was awarded $22,000 of that money due to our adoption numbers.
The money was dedicated to spaying and neutering cats for the public on our MAC
unit each Thursday. Over 700 cats were sterilized and we finished off the year
using donations from the Animal Services Trust Fund so the total number of cats
done between February and September of 2009 was 1,401! We are now working on
other funding sources such as the ASPCA’s Mission Orange and Petsmart
Charities.
FLORIDA ANIMAL FRIENDS
GRANT
In August of 2009, we received our
second spay/neuter grant! We were awarded $25,000 from the Florida Animal
Friends so are now able to continue our Thursday cat spay/neuter program on the
MAC unit for $15 per surgery. Again, this program will be supplemented by
donations to the Animal Services Trust Fund.
WEBSITE
VISITS
In FY 06/07 we began tracking the
number of visits to our website and that year had 111,000 hits. In FY 07/08, we
topped 300,000 and in FY 08/09, there were over 400,000 direct visits to our
website! In addition, we have partnered with many other sites such as
petfinder.com, pedigree.com, adoptapet.com, mightydog.com and petsmart.com that
added an additional 200,000 visits! We are taking advantage of as much
technology as possible and now have a Facebook page so check it
out!
NEW
FLEET
In 2007, half the fleet of older
Animal Control Officer vehicles (dangerous for staff and animals) were replaced
with new vans equipped with air conditioning. For the last year and a half, we
have been working on replacing the rest of the fleet. Those purchases/decisions
were made long before the budget cuts and we are looking forward to retiring the
rest of the old trucks by the end of the calendar
year.
MIAMI ANIMAL
COPS
Granada Productions has completed
the first series of Miami Animal Cops that will premiere on Animal Planet in
January of 2010. At that time, the old show (6 years old) should be removed. I
know you will be impressed with the compassion and dedication of our staff and
look forward to educating the public through this new series. We are in
negotiations now for a second series.
VOLUNTEER
SPAY/NEUTER DAY
In March of 2009, we partnered with
the Humane Society of Greater Miami, the Cat Network and the South Florida
Veterinary Association and Foundation. Over 100 volunteers including 28
veterinarians sterilized 214 cats in one day! In July we partnered again with
Cat Network, SOBE cats and SOBE Animal
Hospital (thanks Dr.
Tenzer!) and sterilized 74 free roaming beach cats.
Our next event at the Humane Society
Spay/Neuter Clinic will take place on Sunday,
January 31 so please save the date! We need volunteers, financial
donations and snacks for volunteer people. We will only be doing free roaming
cats who will all be ear tipped. Stay tuned for more
information.
IMPACT OF BUDGET
CUTS
All county Departments have been
impacted by the budget cuts and for Animal Services it has been severe. 14
positions were eliminated including 2 Assistant Directors, 1 Secretary, 1
Disposal Technician, 2 Customer Service clerks, 4 Enforcement clerks, 1 Budget
and Finance Clerk, 1 Investigator and 3 Animal Control Officers totally over $1
million in cuts. The current budget is $8.9 million and there may be further
cuts this year. The clinic and kennel positions were preserved since they are
the ‘direct care’ staff for the shelter animals although all positions are
critical in our effort to save as many animals as possible and enforce public
safety laws. Please be patient with us as we continue to attempt to handle an
overwhelming workload with less staff.
VOLUNTEERS BREAK
RECORD!
Now more than ever, we need your
help! Our shelter volunteers have once again beat their own record and donated
almost 13,000 hours!! We
appreciate you encouraging your friends and family to get involved. As you
know, we always have a job for you or anyone you
know!
CODE ENFORCEMENT
TECHNOLOGY FUND
In the past, we have received grant
funding for lap tops for enforcement officers that have helped them reunite pets
in the field and work more efficiently. This year, we have been granted funding
for a new cash management system. To date, we have received over $100,000 from
this fund.
INCREASING
COMPLIANCE
Currently, only 40% of the estimated
500,000 dogs in our county are licensed with Animal Services as per Miami-Dade
County Code. The cost for a sterilized dog license is $25 and unsterilized is
$50. If 100% of the dogs were licensed, it would generate between $8-16 million
a year! That’s enough for plenty of subsidized spay/neuter programs and needed
staff so please help us towards that goal and spread the
word!
