Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava defended efforts to rescue pets left at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, saying rescue workers went to condominiums on Sunday to look for animals before the building was demolished has been.
“They searched the units that might have pets at great risk to themselves and searched them very thoroughly,” she said on Monday.
On Saturday, Levine Cava had said that any pet search prior to demolition would not include entering units because “it is not safe for anyone to go beyond the first floor”.
By Saturday evening, a change.org petition entitled “Stop the demolition until all animals are safe!” Had 4,300 signatures. It closed at 18,077. A volunteer animal rights activist tried to stop the demolition on Sunday evening with an emergency petition that allowed her to go into the building to bring the pets out. A judge in Miami-Dade dismissed the motion.
On Monday, Levine Cava returned unsolicited to the demolition and any pets that may have been in the remains of the Surfside apartment building.
She said the crews were doing everything they could to find and rescue pets.
“Doors were opened to other means for the pets to escape the building when they could,” she continued. “We have used drones with thermal imaging technology on numerous trips over the rubble and standing in the tower in areas that are not safe for search and rescue teams.”
Arthur Holmes Jr., assistant district fire chief for operations, said the agency on Sunday deployed a lone firefighter on a balcony of the remaining building to sweep hours before the demolition. “They went from the second floor to the eighth floor and searched several units,” said Holmes after the briefing on Monday morning.
As the full-time mayor of the county, Levine Cava oversees the Surfside operation and sits at the top of a chain of command that includes fire and rescue. Levine Cava, a longtime cat owner, adopted two cats from the county animal shelter last month after the recent death of a cat, Michelle, who she has had since 2008.
“From the beginning I emphasized to Fire and Rescue the importance of leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding these animals,” she said in an interview. “But I am not substituting my own judgment about what is safe. I make them aware that I hear there are pets and if it is safe, please leave. “
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Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about panthers (NHL and FIU), dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors, and all kinds of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He doesn’t work on Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
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