A Miami-Dade County woman is calling for changes after her dog was killed by another animal in the parking lot of Miami-Dade Animal Services in Doral over the weekend.
Emily Mirabal said she had gone to the facility to get new tags for her pets when her 6-year-old dachshund, Toby, was attacked.
“Toby meant everything to me. He was my peace. I want to tell you that I’m completely shocked to my core. I am not myself. My face is flushed. I don’t feel well,” Mirabal said.
She explained that her back was turned when a pit bull mix came out of the facility and attacked Toby.
“No muzzle, nothing—it just came right out of their facility in attack mode. Fortunately, I was not attacked, but my animals… one of them did not come home,” she said.
Chaotic Scene Witnessed by Bystanders
A witness told CBS News Miami that the area erupted into chaos during the attack. Mirabal said she was stunned by the employees’ response.
“You know what, do you want us to do? I said, ‘What do you mean I need you to help me? I need you to try to save my little dog,’ and they said, ‘Well, we don’t do that here.’ There was no sense of what to do in any type of emergency,” she explained.
Mirabal’s son rushed Toby to a nearby veterinarian, but unfortunately, the dog died from his injuries.
Owner Calls for Policy Changes
Mirabal said the county has not contacted her about the incident and expressed a desire to help improve policies to prevent similar attacks.
“But there’s no monetary amount that would ever bring my Toby back. I just feel that at this point I need some peace in my mind to know that this will never happen to anyone else,” she said.
She has filed a police report, and Miami-Dade Animal Services has been contacted for comment but has not yet responded.