Pet Shelter Owner Can't Save Misfit Animals

Three-legged dogs and one-eyed cats might want to hobble to the next county. There are few animal shelters with no-kill policies in Miami-Dade, and one of them closed last month. The Human Society has since taken over the family-run Pet Rescue in Miami Gardens. But there's more to the story,...

By Natalie O'Neill

November 12, 2009

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Three-legged dogs and one-eyed cats might want to hobble to the next county. There are few animal shelters with no-kill policies in Miami-Dade, and one of them closed last month. The Human Society has since taken over the family-run Pet Rescue in Miami Gardens. But there's more to the story, says Robbie Coy, founder of Sabbath Memorial Dog Rescue.

The Humane Society protects "adoptable pets." Problem is, many animals at Pet Rescue are old, antisocial, or disabled. Says Coy: "What they'll do is euthanize them all." He claims Pet Rescue owners and directors refused his "six-figure offer" to buy the shelter and save the animals. The reason: They wanted cushy paid positions with the Humane Society, he says.

Two calls to the shelter were not returned to Riptide by deadline.

A couple of months ago, Coy heard Pet Rescue was having financial trouble. He phoned directors at the four-acre, family-run center with a proposition: He'd buy the place for $200,000. "I've been running my own shelter for a decade... It was a marriage made in heaven," Coy insists. Instead, directors gave him the cold shoulder.

In late October, the Humane Society issued a news release. It stated, "Together with Pet Rescue, the Humane Society of Greater Miami will become even a stronger leader in the animal welfare community than it is today."

Coy counters, "They were making it seem all wonderful and great." Now he suspects Pet Rescue workers snubbed him because they wanted better jobs with the Humane Society.

Indeed, two former Pet Rescue directors -- M. Gomez and Katherine Wasconis -- are now on the Humane Society's board of directors. Pet Rescue owner Gardner Mulloy is on the board of trustees. Riptide is seeking information about compensation for these positions.

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