New Animal Shelter Opens Up In Miami-Dade County

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- People and pups of Miami-Dade County, you finally have a new animal shelter.

After being at an outdated facility on NW 74th Street for more than 40 years, a new state of the art center on nearly five acres has it all including catwalks, play rooms, more housing capacity, surgical space and air conditioning. It's the largest shelter in the country with air conditioning.

"That's meant to control disease and for comfort. Friendly facility for the adopter. And for us really it's intended to increase the chances of animals getting adopted," said Director Alex Munoz.

One of the new features at the new animal shelter are showcase rooms where dogs like Esmerelda can hang out, giving people a better idea of their personality.

It took four years and $15 million to build the new facility near NW 36th Street on 79th Avenue.

That's only after five previously shot-down attempts.

"I can tell you it wasn't easy because there were funding challenges that we had to face in order to complete construction for the center to identify more than $7-million in additional funding," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Ideally, the shelter would be a no kill facility but Mayor Gimenez said in recent years, the shelter has nearly doubled the number of cats and dogs it saves - up to 90% of the shelter's intakes.

Meanwhile, across from the grand opening protesters held signs calling the new pet adoption and protection center the "deception" center. The non-profit "Pets Trust" is now suing Miami-Dade County and Mayor Gimenez. The group of taxpayers and voters are accusing them of violating an agreement to improve animal welfare and safety by underfunding and limiting resources including developing a "no kill" program.

For now, the old shelter on NW 74th Street will still be used for things like quarantine and working out hoarding cases. But from now on, this new spot in Doral is where you can adopt, not shop.