Program sending 23 dogs to other shelters

MEDLEY, Fla. (WSVN) -- Nearly two dozen dogs will soon make a major move from South Florida in hopes of getting another chance at finding a loving home.

The 23 dogs will soon board a van and depart from the Miami-Dade Animal Services Shelter to several no-kill shelters up north.

This marks the 11th time the Miami-Dade Animal Services Shelter has done this type of transport, and those at the animal shelter hope all 23 dogs will find homes. "We get about 15,000 dogs here a year, give or take, and we do pretty good," said Alex Muñoz of the Miami-Dade Animal Services Shelter. "We get over 70 percent of them adopted, but this is a way of getting more animals out because all of them don't get adopted or all of them don't get rescued, so we're looking for other avenues, and we'd love to get them all saved."

The program responsible for the move, Miami Dogs on the Move, has been a success thus far: More than 140 dogs have been saved because of it. The group Pawsitive 4 LIFE funds the program.

The 23 canines soon will head to shelters in Palm Beach County, New York and Vermont. Melissa Sorokin, who volunteers at the shelter, said, "It's incredible. One of them that we have here is a returning customer, so when they come back to us, obviously the goal as always, 24/7, everyday, is to get them to good homes."

According to shelter employees, some of the animals that come to the shelter do not get a second glance. Through the program, however, these dogs get a second chance at a good life with a loving family. "I think the dogs we're sending are great!" exclaimed Sorokin. "They're awesome dogs, so I think they will get adopted, and some are going all the way to Vermont. It means hope. It means they can get a better life now. They can have a second chance."

For more information about the Miami Dogs on the Move program or Pawsitive 4 LIFE, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/pawsitive4lifeinc.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)