{"id":339448,"date":"2026-07-14T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339448\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:29:13","slug":"new-animal-shelter-to-open-in-south-dade-miami-dade-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339448\/","title":{"rendered":"New animal shelter to open in South Dade, Miami-Dade County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jacob,<\/p>\n

Jacob, 19, left, and his mother Raquel Garcia, who are fostering Riley, visit Miami-Dade County’s main facility in Doral, shown during a recent tour on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald<\/p>\n

A new home is coming for hundreds of Miami-Dade shelter pets.<\/p>\n

The county is building a 25,000-square-foot animal shelter in South Dade that officials say will improve conditions for animals, expand veterinary services and make pet adoptions more accessible for residents in the southern part of Miami-Dade.<\/p>\n

The facility will be built at 29500 Harriet Tubman Highway in South Dade and will help ease overcrowding at the county\u2019s overflow shelter in Medley, which officials originally intended to use temporarily but now rely on to house at least 130 dogs each day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new facility is going to be a state-of-the-art shelter that\u2019s really going to put best practices into place so that the animals living there are as comfortable and enjoying quality of life as much as possible,\u201d said Miami-Dade Animal Services Director Annette Jose.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently vetoed state funding that would have helped purchase equipment such as kennels and veterinary supplies, Jose said the shelter itself will still be built using county funding, costing roughly $20 million.<\/p>\n

The project is currently in the design phase, with architects finalizing plans before permitting and groundbreaking. Construction is expected to begin around August or September, with an expected opening in summer 2027.<\/p>\n

\"A A dog tries to get the attention of visitors while temporarily sheltered in a waiting area at the county\u2019s main shelter facility in Doral, shown during a recent tour on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

The new facility will have space for around 200 dogs and 100 cats and will have climate-controlled kennels, medical suites and outdoor play yards. Veterinary services available to the public will include vaccinations, microchipping and spay-and-neuter procedures.<\/p>\n

Officials said the South Dade location will help bring shelter services closer to residents who live farther from the county\u2019s main facility in Doral at 3599 N.W. 79th Ave.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiami-Dade County is a very vast county,\u201d Jose said. \u201cWe wanted to have a presence in the south. \u2026There\u2019s more land and more stray dogs, so we wanted to be accessible to the residents on the south end of the county.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the South Dade location will offer adoptions and veterinary care, the county\u2019s main shelter in Doral will remain the primary intake facility. Residents who need to surrender pets or bring in stray animals will still be directed there.<\/p>\n

Jose said centralizing intake allows animal services staff to determine the best placement for each animal, a process known as \u201cpathway planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make decisions based on what is the best pathway when an animal enters the shelter,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, maybe we\u2019ll learn what kinds of dogs get adopted the quickest down south and keep that population going there, but the goal is always to keep the dogs in the shelter for as little time as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adult Adult cats are boarded for adoption during a recent tour of Miami-Dade County\u2019s main shelter facility in Doral on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Miami-Dade plans to open a new animal shelter in South Dade to supplement services at its main facility in Doral. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald Miami-Dade struggles with overcrowded animal shelters<\/p>\n

The project comes as Miami-Dade continues to struggle with overcrowding at its shelters.<\/p>\n

The Doral facility was originally designed to house 350 dogs but currently cares for about 535, forcing many dogs to share kennel space. The kennels are designed with two connected compartments separated by a divider, known as a \u201cguillotine door.\u201d In normal conditions, one dog would have access to both sides of the kennel, with one side used for eating and resting and the other side used for the dog to relieve itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a perfect world, there would be one dog in each kennel,\u201d Jose said. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re keeping the kennel dividers down and putting a dog on each side, so they have less space for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dogs Dogs are temporally housed during the admission process at the county\u2019s main facility in Doral, shown during a recent tour on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

Housing dogs individually reduces stress, improves their overall health and helps present them better to potential adopters, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen animals are stressed, they\u2019re more likely to get sick, and it\u2019s harder for them to overcome disease,\u201d Jose said. \u201cBeing able to have this new facility means dogs will be housed in single runs instead of having to co-house them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new shelter is also expected to increase adoption opportunities by bringing services closer to South Dade residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what it\u2019s going to do is make adoptions more accessible to people that live in the south,\u201d Jose said. \u201cThere are still a lot of people in this community who don\u2019t know there is a county shelter or where it\u2019s located. This is going to bring more awareness about our services and make adoption from your municipal shelter much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Staffers Staffers help in the training of adopted animals at the county\u2019s main shelter facility in Doral on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n

The shelter, sponsored by Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, is part of a public-private partnership between Miami-Dade County and UniCapital Medley QOZB LLC. Under the agreement, the county will transfer the Medley shelter property to the developer, which will build at least 100 income-restricted affordable housing units there. In exchange, the county will receive land where the new shelter will be constructed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to support this important project that benefits both our residents and our animals,\u201d Bermudez said in a statement. \u201cThis new facility represents a significant step forward in providing better care for shelter pets while adding much needed housing in District 12. It\u2019s a great example of how we can work together to build a stronger, more compassionate Miami-Dade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A staffer takes a dog for a walk at the county\u2019s main shelter facility in Doral on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacob, 19, left, and his mother Raquel Garcia, who are fostering Riley, visit Miami-Dade County’s main facility in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-339448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}