An Unstoppable Horror: MDAS
Updated: Dec 19, 2025
Never ending injustices to animals in need…
For legal purposes, all expressed opinions in this text are my own -an unprofessional but devoted animal lover. Without verified facts, these are just opinions and rumors.
As animal lovers, we never want to hear about the horrors that innocent lives experience inside shelters. But if they have to live it, we can read about it. It’s up to the public to call out the cruelty our stray and unwanted friends endure throughout their unwarranted imprisonments. County shelters are not always trustworthy, and it falls on us to speak about any wrongdoings of our public servants -this is the job they chose.
Miami-Dade Animal Services, MDAS
Let’s all meet Mrs. Annette Jose, the director of Miami-Dade Animal Services or MDAS. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Business Administration in Finance. Jose started her professional career at a private mortgage finance firm. Then went on to a public position as a Chief Operation Officer (COO) at an organization that assists kids in at-risk situations called Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe. After this, she joined MDAS as the Assistant Director of Administrative Services. She has been a part of shelter operations for four years and her goal is to “enhance the Department’s strengths and expand the partner network to address current challenges.”
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure she is aware of the current challenges the shelter is facing.
Heat kills…maybe Annette doesn’t know that.
The tragic death of Rocky is a factual event that sent the internet into an uproar -or at least the attentive animal lovers across my corner of the web. There is very little information because an animal’s death just isn't that big of a deal for many. Rocky was a three to four year old black pitbull mix who suffered his death on the third weekend of July this year. He likely suffered a heat stroke due to the lack of air conditioning in the Medley shelter and the record breaking temperatures this summer.
At some point on the day of Rocky’s death, the director of MDAS made the decision to move several dogs from the main shelter in Doral to a smaller one in Medley for a deep cleaning. This facility houses dogs in concrete kennels with no ventilation or AC. In the west wing, Rocky’s location, there weren’t any fans. Employees and volunteers have been complaining of this, as they are concerned for the wellbeing of the dogs housed there. Nothing was done.
Volunteers say that Rocky seemed to be acting like his usual self during his morning walk but by midday he was found lying down in a pool of his own vomit. After this discovery, he was rushed back to the main facility in Doral, but it was too late for him. He was deemed unable to recover and was humanely euthanized.
Employees and volunteers are devastated over the loss of their sweet angel, Rocky. Hundreds of people online are heartbroken over the death of this precious boy, and many of us are fighting for change in this county’s shelters. This is simply unacceptable.
Miami Heat Waves
The temperature throughout the weekend of Rocky’s death reached 96 degrees with a heat index of 100 degrees under the blazing sun. A former volunteer recorded a video of them measuring a temperature of 91.2 degrees inside the kennel room -even with two industrial fans. So imagine how hot the room without fans must have been. Throughout this spring and summer, the temperatures were breaking heat index records at 112 degrees making it nearly impossible for these dogs to hold on to their small -but special- lives until one of them just couldn’t hold on any longer.
Director’s Salary
According to the Miami-Dade County Employee Salary Search, Annette Jose earns roughly $233,000 a year. She should be reducing her pay to acquire more funds for the shelter or save up to fix the AC herself, as this job should be solely about the animals and not about making her money. I mean, they’re expensive, but being a county organization, it is possible with ethical money management; regulated temperatures are necessary with housed animals -it’s her responsibility.
She employs social media managers that come up with viral video ideas yet many of the dogs who are put on the euthanasia list receive little to no exposure. Now, how does that make sense? How can these dogs get adopted if the public never sees them? I’ve seen many people travel hundreds of miles to save a dog on a euthanasia list that they stumbled across on social media. The dogs’ pictures are not on the website for people to browse and a fraction of them are posted on social media. I’m not sure if that feels like enough for Director Jose, but for the countless animal lovers watching them, it isn’t.
Euthanasia
This is my two cents on humane euthanasia. With the rising number of stray and unwanted animals in this country, euthanasia is necessary. It’s a sad truth but there just aren’t enough homes willing to take these animals in. Currently there are over 500 animals within MDAS, do you think there are half that amount of available homes for them? There simply aren’t enough people willing to take them all in. In many counties, more people are surrendering their pets than adopting them. Dogs, cats, ferrets - it doesn’t matter. They are being surrendered en masse and most aren’t making it out.
In my opinion, the changes needed start with increased transfers so that animals can be seen by more people and an irrefutable fact that free to low cost sterilizations should be available for everyone -not just low income households. Rescues and shelters need easier access to government funds specifically for sterilizations of their housed animals and owned pets in the community.
Just because someone doesn’t qualify for low income, doesn’t mean they can afford a $300 (or more) sterilization fee. If you said, “Then they shouldn’t get an animal,” then we’re back at square one. Either we support accessible sterilizations, or sit back and watch all their puppies and kittens die in the shelter. It’s a losing battle, but we have to think about what’s in the best interest of the future animals to come while humanely addressing the current overpopulation crisis. Cities across the country are overrun with stray dogs packing up on the street -look it up if you don’t believe me.
We also need better TNR programs to clean up the stray cat scene. It’s such a hard life for a community kitty; dogs and other predators chasing and killing them, lack of food resources, and absolutely no love for many of them. They’re essentially wild animals at this point.
Rumors -Moby and Chanel, RIP…
I consider these rumors because I cannot personally prove them with tangible facts. However, a Facebook user, Lisa Namaste Smith, continues to keep track of the animals coming into the shelter and stays posted on the director’s decisions. The rumors swarming about this shelter system will make your jaw drop -and while none of them are comparable because they are separate but special lives, one of them sticks out to me the most.
Moby’s story, if true, reveals a sick organization involved in immoral and illegal activities. His story starts in the shelter system in Miami-Dade County. Life started to look up for him when he was adopted last December, but his rowdiness earned him a return to the shelter in August of this year. The adopter was clear in her email exchange with the shelter that she did not want to surrender him back to the system, but he became too rough with her small children.
“The decision to surrender is not one that is being taken lightly. I have grown attached…”
She states that he is a good dog, and he isn’t rough with all kids, just younger, more energetic ones. He was crate trained, potty trained and very food driven. Despite this, Moby -a black pit mix- was killed.
The rumor behind Moby’s story is that upon his return, he was not counted as intake, instead he went straight to his death. Potentially, Moby’s euthanasia is not accounted for and the only reason I can think of them doing this is to keep their euthanasia rate at 10%. This is the maximum number of euthanasias that one facility can have to claim the label of “no-kill shelter.”
This benefits the shelter in many ways. They get more funding and more opportunities within the community as well as gaining more support from community members.
Moby, incudes email exchange between adopter and MDAS and proof of adoption. Posted by Lisa Namaste Smith.
Two years ago, Chanel was adopted out only to be euthanized before she ever left the shelter doors -more immoral and illegal activity. Once again this baby is a black pit mix -this shelter system must have a vendetta out for b lack pitbulls. Chanel was a resident at MDAS and she was graciously adopted by Roger Amador and his family was more than ready to make this girl one of their own. During the shelter monitored meet and greet, he just knew she was the perfect dog for them based on her affectionate and obedient personality.
She truly captured his heart.
Amador says, after the adoption was finalized and the decision to sterilize her through their chosen veterinarian, they suddenly deemed her aggressive and euthanized her.
What’s the reasoning behind the sudden aggression? The shelter decided to have her spayed through their own veterinarian and the surgery left her in excruciating pain. When staff tried to force her to leave her kennel she instinctively growled. If Annette had any experience working with professionals in the animal welfare field before becoming a director, she would teach her staff that growling does not always mean aggression. This girl’s growling was from being forced to move while experiencing intense pain that she had never felt before.
This could have been avoided if the shelter had followed the law in allowing the adopter to have his dog be seen by his chosen vet. They reportedly broke Chapter 5 Section 5-5 (b)1 regulations that state upon a written agreement an adopter has the right to choose their own vet care, including a confirmation that a sterilization surgery would be done within 30 days of adoption.
According to Amador, Chanel’s paperwork was falsified in order to cover their tracks of illegal decisions. The parties responsible for this tragedy are: Director Annette Jose, Gilda Nunez, Georgina Vargas, Tracy Bravo, Heather Keenan, Maria Serrano, and Alejandra Duran.
Roger just wants justice for his sweet Chanel that never made it to the life he so deeply wished to give her -along with his entire family.
The Bottom Line
I believe that if you’re going to work with animals, you need to have experience with animal professionals before becoming a Director of Animal Services in any county. The number one goal you should continuously hold for the animals in your care is to maintain their physical wellbeing. The second goal should be uplifting their spirit and supporting their mental stability, so they don’t become reactively aggressive or dangerous from just existing in dog jail.
Kennel stress is more real than you would ever imagine without witnessing it for yourself.
If you want to keep up with the potential immoral and illegal decisions made by Miami-Dade Animal Services, I suggest following Lisa Namaste Smith on Facebook and joining her group dedicated to spreading the word about the precious lives lost in this system, In memoriam of the lives taken at Miami-Dade Animal Shelter. If you feel comfortable, you can support the people working to bring attention -and hopefully justice- to the innocent lives no longer with us.
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