Miami — A former shelter pit bull is stealing people’s hearts.
“People saw her on the street and cried, not just once, but multiple times … and tears flowed,” said Dave Portnoy, founder and owner of Barstool Sports.
And she raises a lot of money for animal shelters here in South Florida and across the country.
As a result, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez designated May 20th “Miss Peaches Day.”
“She’s still not over it,” Portnoy said.
It’s no coincidence that she delivered “The Bone” to the city on National Rescue Dog Day.
She truly transformed the rescue community and the “Adopt Don’t Shop” movement.
“Locally, I think we’ve donated about $150,000 to local rescues and shelters,” Portnoy said. “We’re approaching $1 million raised.”
Dave Portnoy adopted Miss Peaches from Lifeline Animal Project, an animal shelter in Atlanta, rescuing her from an overcrowded situation.
“I have pictures of her and she looks so sad… When I see her in the shelter it makes me want to cry because she definitely doesn’t belong there,” he said. “Something just clicked and I literally hopped on a plane to go and get her. It was love at first sight.”
Then everything changed: Portnoy posted a video to social media and people couldn’t get enough of it.
“Barstool has been around for 20 years, and we don’t have very successful people coming to us, or people like Miss Peaches,” he says. “We’re not Barstool. [Sports]; But if you think about it, we’re not making a penny off her. All the money we make from Miss Peaches goes back into charity.”
Most shelters run solely on donations.
Miss Peaches and Portnoy donated about $1 million, and one of the biggest changes they’ve made is reducing overcrowding.
Designer items, gifts, paintings, anything you can name was sent to his house for his now famous daughter.
It’s truly become a movement… so what’s next?
“Is one enough?” asked Trish Christakis of CBS News Miami.
“We’re looking into getting a sibling,” Portnoy responded, “That’s up to her. I’ve already got my eye on getting a dog. Dogs want someone to spend time with, but if she wants to be on her own, that’s up to her. It’s up to her whether I do that or not.”
For now, she plans to continue living a lavish lifestyle and continuing to give back to the rescue community.
