MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Humane Society of Greater Miami apologized a day after vandals desecrated a South Florida pet cemetery.
"We are sorry about, you know, the damage they feel inside about a very peaceful place, you know, where their pets are resting, and we take it very seriously," Laurie Hoffman, executive director of the Humane Society of Greater Miami, told Local 10 News.
Hoffman visited the cemetery Friday, surveying the damage caused by vandals at the 60-year-old Oaklawn Pet Cementery (sic).
Deborah Fetterly's family has 12 pets buried at the cemetery. She rushed to the cemetery after watching Local 10's story about the vandalism.
"I feel for the people who have had their stones damaged, because when you spend money for perpetual care and you love your animal enough to give them and honor them with a grave stone, this is just a terrible thing," Fetterly said.
Ever since the Humane Society moved its headquarters from next door to the cemetery, security has been an issue, but Hoffman said the agency is already working on ways to honor the dead.
"We are contacting companies that can replace the headstones and fix any headstones," Hoffman said. "We're also talking to companies that can help with the settling of the soil and, you know, straighten out all the headstones, but we're going to do whatever we can to make sure that the cemetery is restored."
Miami-Dade police are investigating the vandalism.