MEDLEY, Fla. – A South Florida man began his stay locked in a cage at Miami-Dade Animal Services to draw attention and support for an initiative that's on the Nov. 6 ballot in Miami-Dade County.
Michael Rosenberg, the President of The Pets' Trust, was booked into the animal shelter at 2 p.m. Friday as a 5-year-old male coyote. Then, Rosenberg was led to his home for the next three days and two nights -- a small space at the end of a row of chain link cages.
PHOTOS: Michael Rosenberg begins stay in cage
"At least I know on Sunday, I come out. The animals have no idea what's happening," said Rosenberg.
Rosenberg's mission is to encourage people to adopt one of the 400 animals housed in the shelter and to bring awareness to the plight of those that end up here. Nearly 20,000 are euthanized each year.
"We need to stop that. We've been doing it for decades, 60 to 70 every single day, never changes, for decades," said Rosenberg.
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The question on creating a Pets' Trust will be on a nonbinding straw ballot Nov. 6, but if voters say yes, then the County Commission would likely approve it. It would come with a slight increase in property taxes, about $20 a year on average, to support a program they say will make it easier to people to adopt these pets.
"We have a severe overpopulation in Miami-Dade County and Pets' Trust is trying to address this by implementing very low cost and free high volume spay neuter program," said Lindsay Gorton, the treasurer for the Pets' Trust.
It didn't take long for Rosenberg to get settled, and he hopes by Sunday, he'll be all alone.
"Hopefully, after they see this presentation, they will come here on Saturday and Sunday and adopt and adopt and adopt," said Rosenberg. "Let's get these animals out of here."
Local 10 will follow the developments live on the news Saturday morning. On Sunday, Rosenberg will be a guest on This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney.
For more information on this weekend's event and to find out how you can adopt a pet this weekend, click here.