Miami-Dade Animal Services Pet Adoption & Protection Center — Attraction in Doral

Today I took a stray kitty that we found without his mother. We took care of him overnight and realized we needed help, so we took him to the shelter to have him get put up for adoption and to be provided services that he needed (vaccines, be fed properly, professional care, etc.), however, right when we get there Melissa Ramirez was nothing less than rude, unprofessional, lacked compassion, good manners, and basic human courtesy. We barely entered the room when she was shoving us out the door due to Covid measures (which I understand, but there is a way to communicate it effectively kindly or at least put a sign outside the door). My mother and I complied and waited with the kitty outside and she comes out and asks what we need and I barely spoke three words when she was giving me attitude that the kitty cannot be taken in, that we would need to make an appointment for 4 weeks and that then they will only give him immunizations and then put him out in the streets again to survive on his own. What type of a response is that? I immediately got assertive with her and told her if she was literally kidding me. How could a kitten survive on his own without a mother when he's that small? Where is all our money going into here in this organization? This establishment is what it is and has the resources they have because of MY money! OUR community's money! I am also not an idiot and understand that indeed, it may take up to 4 weeks for a kitten to be received at the shelter, and I would not have a problem caring for the animal temporarily until then, but what was so upsetting was that this girl clearly hates her job and put up a very unprofessional face to the organization by making it seem like they are not capable of doing what their organization is meant to be equipped to do. I went ahead and told her that the kitten was tiny and without a mom and how could he possibly survive, and she went on to ask me "Well is he sick?" I was livid. Is he required to be near death for you to put attention to him and his needs? I surely would hope that's not the case. The kitten was actually not eating on his own so much and was not peeing or pooping, it was not until I told her this that she went inside and considered taking him in I guess because after some time she let us inside and had us put the kitty inside a crate. I asked for her supervisor and gave me the name of Rachel Hernandez. My trust in this shelter has most definitely be shaken since this encounter. To whoever Rachel Hernandez is...please train your employees, especially Melissa Ramirez, to have basic human courtesy when they face and talk to people. The people that come in with strays are just trying to help and sometimes they are misinformed, and I would like to think that in your position as an employee for this organization you would care enough about animals that you can provide solutions and information or resources to assist the people coming in. Rachel Hernandez, please provide effective feedback to your employees and equip them with problem-solving skills to help the greater community who are the ones paying for your jobs and the beautiful animals. Treat animals and people with respect and inform your employees that first impressions are so important, what would have happened if I was an investigator? Which reminds me, something else that did not made me feel very secure was the fact that in the parking lot of the establishment were 3-4 adult stray cats! What are these beautiful creatures doing outside of an ANIMALS SHELTER that should be looking after their best interest. I know this is a much bigger issue to discuss here in this platform since it all comes down to laws, lack of funding and space, and an increased amount of animals in need (especially now during Covid) BUT that just does not look good on the organization. Below is a picture of the animals at the...

What an absolutely terrible experience! You would think it would be better given the urgent needs to adopt so many animals.

Our family dog passed away 6 weeks ago and my mom found a nearly identical dog listed at the Miami Dade Adoption Center. She went there first thing Tuesday morning (11/7) to see if she could adopt him. She was informed there wasn’t a hold on him, and she could definitely fill out the paper work to adopt him. They stated he was in medical so he wasn’t ready to go home right away but would likely be ready later in the day. They printed out a paper to input her information and his and made it seem it was all gonna be ready to go once he was done with medical. She spoke with Gonzalo (as listed on the adoption paper) and he assured her they would call her once he was ready so she could meet him and adopt him.

She left for work and called in later in the afternoon to see if he was ready - they stated he was still in medical and was not ready but that they would call her as soon as he was ready.

Since she didn’t receive a call by 6pm last night she called this morning to follow up and see if she could pick him up (11/8) but no one answered so she decided to go back in person. Once she arrived she inquired about Nicky (the dog) and they said “Oh he was adopted” she was bewildered by this and mentioned everything that occurred yesterday to Gonzalo and he said “oh yeah my supervisor says we’re not allowed to call sorry”. It was Gonzalo and another staff member that both assured her they would call her when he was ready. She did her due diligence and followed the instructions provided by the staff. Clearly the staff is untrained and insensitive to those who are seeking to adopt. She even told him about our family dog’s recent passing and how excited she was to adopt Nicky given he was so identical and even had a close name to our family dog.

To be assured twice that you would be called and even complete paper work to then be dismissively told - sorry couldn’t call you the next day after the dog you almost adopted is gone is such an apathetic and repulsive response. We even refreshed the page all morning and he’s still listed there as of 40 min ago.

To make matters worse some of the other staff there today even told her “oh yeah when a dog is in medical he’s usually ready to go within an hour”. That was even worse to hear that this could all have been avoided if staff actually knew what they were doing.

Word of advice - if you’re interested in any animal here make sure to stick around and verify whatever information you’re given with several staff. It would be a shame to be told you’re able to adopt a dog/animal, be misinformed, and then the animal is given to someone else after you’ve spent 1.5 days waiting around for him and checking in.

It would be very beneficial if all staff could be trained well enough so they provide accurate information to those who are wanting to adopt animals here. It is such a...

This is the saddest story you'll hear today, fair warning.

My partner rescued two tiny, helpless kittens from behind the construction site next door to our small apartment building in Little Havana. They'd been crying for hours before he went to investigate, and he found them completely covered in paint! They were maybe two weeks old, eyes open, but just barely, not really able to walk or groom yet. He brought them home, bathed them (twice!) to get most of the paint off, bought a bottle and formula for them, and really saved their lives. One of them was strong and healthy, and took to the bottle well; we were worried about the smaller of the two, though, who had trouble eating, and was a bit less active.

After all day with no sign of the mother cat, we called the Miami-Dade Animal Services Pet Adoption & Protection Center the next morning, and were told that they were a 'no kill' shelter, and that they could take the kittens — it's easier to adopt out younger kittens, they told us, so they should find a good home quickly. We thought they'd be better able to care for the smaller of the two, and we already had a young cat; we thought we were doing the right thing. We arranged a pick up, they gave us a tracking number, and a few hours later they came and picked up the kittens. The guy that came to get them was kind and seemed to know what he was doing, checking their teeth and eyes before taking them away.

My partner called to ask about them a couple of days later, with the tracking number they'd given us: they'd been put down, because they were understaffed and didn't have anyone to bottle feed them.

We're absolutely heartbroken. If they'd been honest about it from the start, we would have taken care of them long enough to find a good home, or until they were off the bottle and the shelter could care for them. If they'd called us back and offered them back instead of killing them, we would have taken them. The callous treatment of these animals, killed for convenience, absolutely disgusts me.

We asked if they were a 'no kill' facility, and they lied to us. Miami-Dade Animal Services call themselves no kill because they only kill ~10% of the animals that end up there, "the recognized threshold for no-kill shelters across the country" to quote their own website. "No healthy or treatable animals are euthanized even when the shelter is full." I call bullsh!t on that; these were healthy kittens, slaughtered for convenience. Miami-Dade Animal Services should be ashamed...