Animal Services partners with FoMA, Wings of Rescue and Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary to send 54 dogs to loving families

The Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department (Animal Services) has partnered with Friends of Miami Animals Foundation Inc. (FoMA), Wings of Rescue and Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada, to send 54 dogs who have not yet found their loving families within our local community. The pets, including some of our long-term residents, seniors and medically needy, will travel to Canada where there is a higher demand for pets and loving families waiting to adopt and add a new best friend to their pack. The pooches of various breeds, colors and sizes will arrive at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) located at 3495 SW 9th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315, on Wednesday, October 20, 2021at 7 a.m. to board the Wings of Rescue plane for the ride to Canada.  The pets will be picked up by Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, which will connect them with new fur-ever families.  

“We are grateful to our transport and rescue partners for answering our call to action. Transporting our shelter pets is critical to our life-saving mission,” said Lorna Mejia-Lopez, Animal Services Interim Director.   “It helps Miami-Dade County continue to maintain our No-Kill status.  While these pets will find their new families in Canada, we have so many more pets at the Pet Adoption and Protection Center in Doral, who are still available for adoption, fostering or rescue.” 

The rescue flight will be carrying dogs already identified as adoptable, freeing up critical space at the Miami-Dade County’s Pet Adoption and Protection Center, which is experiencing an extremely high pet population waiting for loving families. The dogs, all of which have been medically cleared for transport, will be flown to Toronto (arrival is approximately noon), and will be met by the Canadian-based rescue organization Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, which will place the dogs for local adoption.  Operated by nonprofit pet-transport group Wings of Rescue, the flight, which leaves the FLL Airport at approximately 8:15AM, is the 90^th pet-rescue mission the organization has flown this year.

“Our mission at Wings of Rescue is to deliver at-risk pets from shelters facing challenging conditions to shelters and rescue groups that have both capacity and willing adopters available,” said Ric Browde, CEO of Wings of Rescue. “Currently Miami-Dade County Animal Services is experiencing an extremely high number of pets waiting to be adopted, which places a strain on local rescue operations. By delivering these 54 great dogs to the amazing animal rescue group at Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, we can help relieve pressure on the hardworking folks in Miami-Dade County.”

“Friends of Miami Animals Foundation is pleased to partner with Miami-Dade County Animal Services and Wings of Rescue to help get pets to Animal Services transport partners that work tirelessly to find forever families for our shelter pets.  Relocation is an effective and critical tool to saving lives by relocating animals to areas where adoptable animals are in high demand and is one component of our life saving work,” said Yolanda Berkowitz, FoMA President and Founder.

Anyone interested in donating to make transports like this possible and helping our community pets find loving homes, while also helping make room at the shelter, can contribute by visiting Animal.MiamiDade.gov or fomapets.org. 

For more information regarding the Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department and its services and programs for pets and pet owners, visit Animals.MiamiDade.gov, call 311 or follow us on Social Media @AdoptMiamiPets.

About Miami-Dade County Animal Services

Every year Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department (Animal Services) provides care and refuge for 28,000 to 30,000 lost and abandoned dogs and cats. Every day, Animal Services staff works diligently to find life-long homes for these abandoned animals by facilitating onsite adoptions, hosting offsite adoptions at events and locations throughout the community, and working collaboratively with rescue organizations, volunteers and adoption partners.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Flora Beal, [email protected], 305-250-8636.

About Friends of Miami Animals

Friends of Miami Animals Foundation’s mission is to save and improve the lives of homeless pets in Miami Dade County through education, advocacy, financial support and increased awareness. FoMA was founded in 2016 from a desire to help reduce pet overpopulation and alleviate the underlying causes of pet homelessness, such as unwanted puppies and kittens, pet abandonment, and other issues that bring pets into shelters and force pet owners to surrender their pets due to temporary hardships. From funding free or low cost medical services to pets living in low income households, to helping Miami-Dade County Animal Services with enrichment for shelter pets by funding enhanced play yards to allow large dogs to get out in play groups and creating their Annual Volunteer Fair, our focus is to assist more homeless pets by working closely with Miami-Dade County Animal Services and helping to bring the shelter into the community and the community into the shelter.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Molly Lopez, [email protected], 305-204-3104

About Wings of Rescue

Wings of Rescue is a donation-based charity flying large-scale transports of at-risk shelter pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster zones to partner shelters where there is empty kennel space. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Southern California, Wings of Rescue utilizes chartered cargo planes to “Let the Fur Fly” from and to locations in the United States and internationally. Since its inception in 2012, more than 59,000 pets have flown to safety. So far in 2021, Wings of Rescue has carried 7,000+ pets to safe havens and delivered over 50,000 pounds of humanitarian supplies to shelters in need. For more information, visit www.wingsofrescue.org

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Gene Gable, [email protected], 707-235-0869

About Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary

Dog Tales is a dog rescue and horse sanctuary located in King City, Ontario, like no other in the world. Founded in 2014 by a husband-and-wife team who have been involved in both Canadian and international animal rescue for years, the organization’s sanctuary is located on an incredible 50 acres of green fields, rolling hills and wooded areas in King City Ontario, just a short drive from downtown Toronto. The picturesque location is the perfect safe haven for lost, abused and neglected animals to heal and be rehabilitated while they wait for forever homes. Along with medical care, the Dog Tales team provides all of the love and training that rescues need to recover from their difficult pasts so that they can move on to permanent, loving homes, which most do. For the rest, Dog Tales is home for as long as they need it to be. Since opening, Dog Tales has found incredible homes for more than 200 dogs from all over the world. For more information visit www.dogtales.ca

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Phone 905-713-1887