Videos shared on Instagram by Nicolette Acosta, a local animal-rights activist, show hundreds of cockroaches crawling along the walls, floors, and cages of dogs inside the county's Doral shelter. Acosta tells New Times that volunteers shot the footage on August 5 and 6 inside the shelter's quarantine area, which is off-limits to the public.
"Dogs are living in filth, surrounded by crawling insects," Acosta captioned one of the Instagram videos. "This is abuse."
The facility was designed to hold 350 dogs but has housed nearly 600 in recent years.
In an emailed response to New Times' request for comment, Miami-Dade County Animal Services spokesperson Gabriella Dominguez writes that "ensuring a clean, safe, and sanitary environment is our top priority.
"However, managing pests in such a large, high-traffic facility presents ongoing challenges, which we address through strict protocols," the statement continues. "The unique shelter setting complicates extermination efforts due to several factors, including food spillage throughout the shelter and kennels with approximately four inches of 'crawl space' underneath, providing hiding spots for roaches. Additionally, we must use pet-friendly pesticides, which may not be as potent."
Dominguez says the department conducts weekly pet-safe extermination at the Doral shelter and biweekly treatments at its Medley facility. Additionally, the department will "[partner] with a new exterminator to implement an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan" starting next week, Dominguez writes. "Starting August 11, we will begin room-by-room intensive fumigation."
A Plea for Help From the Community
And on that note, Animal Services is seeking help from Miami-Dade residents. Dominguez explains that the fumigation effort will require the removal of all dogs from the rooms for two full days."We are asking the community to open their homes to a foster for 48 hours while we exterminate and clean their kennel rooms," Dominguez writes, adding that Animal Services' foster division includes a "sleepover" program for shelter dogs so they can spend quality time outside the shelter.
"We deeply appreciate the concerns expressed by residents and fellow animal lovers," Dominguez adds. "The health and well-being of our animals, staff, and visitors are at the core of our mission at Miami-Dade Animal Services. We are dedicated to providing the highest standard of care and are continuously seeking ways to improve our facility and operations."
The infestation comes as county shelters are dealing with an outbreak of Streptococcus equi zooepidemicus (AKA Strep Zoo) and amid recent outrage over the death of a terrier mix named Rocky who reportedly died from heat stroke in his kennel at the county's Medley shelter, which houses animals in the event of a population overflow in Doral.
