Some South Florida pets spend years waiting for adoption

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Florida. – You’ve probably heard of the phrase “adopt, don’t buy,” but have you ever wondered how long some of these adoptable animals have been sitting in the shelter, waiting for their forever homes?

Some pets have been sitting in South Florida shelters for years.

Benny, an 8-year-old dog, is one of them. It’s a bundle of furry love.

“He loves the scratches on his chin, the little scratches on his neck,” Humane Society of Greater Miami spokeswoman Melanie Ochoa said.

But he spent a quarter of his life at the shelter.

“He came in 2020 and he was adopted and he was kicked out because he needed a little more attention at home, he had a little bit of separation anxiety,” Ochoa said.

Some rescue animals require a little more work.

“Pets are part of the family and so sometimes we have to adapt a bit and they will settle in and they are unique, but they are incredibly unique,” ​​Ochoa said.

Benny isn’t the only animal to have spent years at the shelter.

Ghost and Jones are two dogs who spent two to three years at the shelter.

“A shelter is not a home, we have to find them a forever home,” Ochoa said. “A house you have the bed that is always yours, you have the corner of the house that you know, you have the path that you like to walk in the house, they have everything that is theirs.”

That’s the goal of rescue organizations: to save lives and get animals adopted as quickly as possible, not to make a building with concrete kennels their permanent home.

If two to three years in a shelter shocks you, you’ll never believe how long Tanzi the cat has been at the Humane Society – seven long years.

She may be a little misunderstood, but making the cat her home since 2016 is unfathomable.

So the next time you’re at a shelter, look at the piece of paper next to the animal to see how long it’s been at the shelter. Because once we started counting time in years, it’s been way too long.

“Once they’re in a house and settled in, their real personality comes out and it’s usually an amazing personality,” Ochoa said.