Title
A Resolution of the Coral Gables City Commission recognizing that a substantial majority of the Miami-Dade County electorate voted to support the initiatives presented by Pets' Trust; the Coral Gables City Commission urges the Miami-Dade County Commission to establish in this budget session the funding mechanisms for the Pets' Trust initiative; the Coral Gables Commission will encourage other Miami-Dade County municipalities to join the City of Coral Gables in support of the Pets' Trust initiative.
Commissioner Vince Lago
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Pursuant to the request of Commissioner Vicente Lago, the attached resolution is submitted for the City Commission's consideration. The situation that homeless and displaced animals face nationwide is startling; locally, it is devastating. Tens of thousands of dogs and cats each year enter Miami-Dade County Animal Services and thousands of these animals are killed annually. More than 400,000 stray cats live on the streets of South Florida with females having up to 12 kittens a year. This issue touches not only compassion and ethics but also economics, the cost to taxpayers for killing animals is approximately $300.00 per animal, and in comparison the cost of a spay/neuter strategy is approximately $65.00 per animal. In response to these overwhelming numbers, on November 6th 2012, almost 500,000 citizens of Miami-Dade County voted to address this high mortality rate by supporting initiatives presented by Pets' Trust, which are designed to create programs to stop the killing of animals in Miami-Dade County. The Pets' Trust initiatives seek to improve animal welfare, increase adoptions, and decrease overpopulation by providing free and low-cost income qualified spay/neuter operations; income qualified low-cost veterinary care; educational programs; improved shelter care; assistance to rescue groups; increased support for the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA); and additional a...
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