Dog and Cat Sculptures Reign over Miami’s Museum Park

The city of Miami’s nearly two-year effort to install large sculptures of cats and dogs in Maurice A. Ferré Park has officially become reality.

Elected officials and members of the Bayfront Park Management Trust opened the Dogs and Cats Walkway and Sculpture Gardens Feb. 10 with 57 colorful sculptures painted by myriad local artists to represent the diverse neighborhoods and communities of Miami.

Resident Sandra Nuñez, for one, said she loves it.

“I come to the museum a lot and saw them building it, but I had no idea it would be to this scale,” she said.

Nuñez certainly wasn’t alone. Residents and tourists alike brought their children to celebrate the new attraction during the public unveiling Feb. 11. Children jumped around in a large dog-shaped bounce house, families posed for pictures in front of their favorite sculptures and smiles were aplenty.

What was impossible to glean from the cheerful scene was the long, controversial history that led up to it – particularly because of the project’s hefty price tag. The new sculptures cost the city $896,000.

The project drew critics from the moment that Commissioner Joe Carollo first proposed the measure in 2021, crediting his wife, Marjorie, with the idea. With little discussion and competitive bidding, commissioners hastily awarded Art and Sculpture Unlimited Inc. the contract to design and install the statues.

Former Bayfront Park Management Trust board member Cristina Palomo resigned as a result, and some members of the public are similarly outraged. Four men dressed in chicken suits protested the opening event by “clucking” their way through the celebrations and handing out tank tops that displayed Carollo’s mug shot from an old domestic violence incident with his wife.

According to Carollo, the group was led by Billy Corben, the well-known Miami filmmaker, who recorded the event and has criticized the commissioner’s use of public resources for years.

Other residents have their own qualms with the sculptures. Carolina Saco is a former volunteer with Miami-Dade County’s Animal Services Pet Adoption and Protection Center in Doral, who argues there’s irony in the city’s sudden praise for household pets.

“There’s animals being put down every day because there’s no funding,” Saco said. “Individuals have to donate supplies. There’s no one to call when you find animals because the shelters are beyond capacity. They won’t get back to you because they’re underfunded and understaffed, but the city has the funds to pay for these statues?”

A public records request made to determine how much the city donates annually to Miami-Dade Animal Services and other shelters failed to materialize by press time, although Saco’s experience tells her that the city doesn’t contribute a dime.

The city also failed to disclose whether it contributes to permanent art institutions, including Pérez Art Museum Miami and Frost Science Museum, which overlook the nearly $1 million sculptures.

Despite growing scrutiny, Carollo and other elected officials boasted over how the city’s image is now enhanced by another Instagram-worthy attraction.

Mark Taffet, visiting from New York, expressed a similar sentiment.

“I think it’s beautiful,” he said. “You got to keep the tourism trade going.”