Let’s set the record straight. Recently, lies and negative accusations about us and our organization have been spreading in the press and on social media, especially these two lies: 1) the money would go to or be controlled by our organization and 2) the money would be used to build lavish spay/neuter centers. These are simply false. But they are effective in bolstering negative sentiments, especially when they originate from The Miami Herald and a local politician with a large following who is the wife of a prominent veterinarian and President of the Miami Veterinary Foundation. We challenge those who continue to spread these lies to show us where they can be found in the Pets’ Trust Plan. After a title page and table of contents, the entire Plan is contained in only nine pages—so if these lies exist, they shouldn’t be hard to find.
The Plan specifies that a Pets’ Trust Board of Directors (PTBOD) also referred to as an Advisory Board be created by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners (BCC). The 13-member PTBOD will decide how best to spend the money. The PTBOD will have two members from Miami-Dade Animal Services; one representative each for the BCC, the Mayor’s office, The Cat Network, South Florida Veterinary Medical Association, Humane Society, the SPCA and yes, one member from our organization, Pets’ Trust Miami, Inc. Also there will be an animal shelter medicine expert, a CPA, an attorney and a member from another local rescue group. Each of these 13 people will be approved by the BCC. See Section IV. of the Plan.
Additionally, the Plan specifies an Oversight Board, completely under the control of the BCC, “to monitor the PTBOD’s finances, including the allocation of funds”. See Section V. of the Plan.
The 32 experts who crafted the Plan proposed that the $20 million annual budget be allocated to various programs as shown here. But that’s just a recommendation. The final allocation of funds is up to the PTBOD with support of the BCC through their Oversight Board. The money always stays with the County and is paid directly from the County to providers of goods and services.
There has never been any intention of building anything new; any facilities necessary to perform the high-volume spay/neuter services are expected to be either existing County properties or low-cost rented warehouses or strip mall space.
We find it difficult to understand how anyone interested in animal welfare can be against additional funding for an independent group of volunteers (the PTBOD) to work on reducing animal overpopulation. We are not advocating for additional funding for the County Animal Services Department because they have proven that tripling their budget in the past decade has made no significant changes in their performance. See the history of their Budget and Results here.
We understand the greedy motivation of the veterinarians—they made that clear in 2013. But we can’t understand why the Miami Herald would have any reason to mislead; at least they agreed to publish our rebuttal.
If you can’t convince your veterinarian to support the Pets’ Trust Plan, then maybe you should consider finding one who does.
Again, we advocate for a separate group of volunteers (the PTBOD) to direct how a separate source of funds can be used to reduce animal overpopulation, and lessen the burdens on both the County’s shelter and the many rescue groups who care for animals that the shelter refuses to accept.
For more details see our History, Recent Lies and Programs page.