My one shelter is getting a 2.5 million dollar expansion!

wh000t wh000t! I'm sorry, I'm SO EXCITED! It's not the no-kill one that I'm usually at. It's the county shelter (animal control). But, it's really good news. The thing is, they are going to have to take on the rest of the animal control contracts for some other towns, BUT, with the expansion they will have ALOT more room, and then they can keep sending their overflows to the no-kill shelters.

It's going to be soooo much better. Currently, the way things are run is obviously not working. My counties euth rate is the lowest in the state. But, all our shelters are packed. We have foster care programs at each and every one of them *thank goodness*, but we really just need more space somewhere, ANYWHERE! So hopefully with the expansion of the county shelter we will have alot more kennel space and I know they want a better playground for the dogs and everything.

They are having a groundbreaking ceremony this Wednesday! I am supposed to go get my wisdom teeth out, but I called and left a message that I would like to reschedule. I really don't want to miss out on this! Everyone else sounds really excited too.

So it's really good news for everyone. The shelter will what, double or triple in size with that kind of $$$, and all the strays can just be sent there and then overflows just spread out among the no-kills! So that way EVERYONE wins! Don't worry, it is a county animal control shelter, but it's 100% for the animals and extremely low kill rate (for an animal control shelter). They really only put down sick & vicious.... sometimes dogs end up on the urgent list because they don't really have as much room for the dogs, but instead of putting them down I've seen the volunteers pay OUT OF POCKET for the dog to move to private boarding so no one had to go threw the terrible thing of putting down a dog to make more room.


So, yeah I'm really excited and happy about this. Some other people are being all negative about it. But the thing is, we really need a place to put all the animals in the county regardless! So since none of the private shelters can afford to built a new expansion onto their shelter right now, why not let our tax dollars finally do something useful and make a huge expansion on the county shelter and all overflows will just be spread out among the no-kills?

Oh and the county shelter does do well with adoptions. It wouldn't be a warehousing situation... their animals get adopted pretty well over there. They just need a bit more room to work :thumbs up

That sounds like wonderful news kathryn :thumbs up! Do you know exactly who's funding the expansion? I think it would be wonderful, if it's not already in the plans, to put some of that funding towards public awareness too.

I'm glad to hear this Kat :thumbs up

That sounds like wonderful news kathryn :thumbs up! Do you know exactly who's funding the expansion? I think it would be wonderful, if it's not already in the plans, to put some of that funding towards public awareness too.

Umm It's going to be tax dollars is all I know. The who funding it part is the 'board of freeholders' for the county or something. If that makes any sense. And they do what they can for public awareness by sitting in Petsmart all the time and trying to get everyone new homes.

I really want them to put in a spay/neuter clinic :p The thing is, they do offer s/n services at an EXCELLENT price, BUT they work out of the one surgery room and they don't have a 'recovery' room (like my no-kill shelter does) and they end up stacking up cages in the hallway to put the animals into after their surgery is done. So it gets very crowded and noisy once the dogs wake up and start barking at each other in the hallway and then piling the rest of them into the front office behind the desk. So, I hope they get an actual s/n clinic built on with a recovery room for the kitties and doggies :fingerscr

Wonderful news Kathryn :highfive: keep us updated on the progress for the new shelter

Great news.....that sounds like a good sized expansion. :thumbs up

Thats AWESOME news .. I can see why your so excited!

Here is the article
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810230390

incase anyone was interested.

The freeholder guy is such a butthead. Okay, real quick backstory before I leave for work. The freeholders are just like some random government people for the county. They control most of the cashflow. The county shelter was opened in 1997 only after everyone complained to them forever. Okay. Then it ended up being half the size they originally planned it to be. Then the freeholders UNDER FUNDED IT for the past couple years. They are really such a pain in the butt and couldn't care less.

The only reason anyone on the freeholders even did anything is because of lots and lots of pressure from lots and lots of people. Also it was getting out in the news about CCAS being under funded and over loaded.

The county has been giving them 150,000 dollars a year to care for about 4,000 animals coming in !!!!! They've been living off donations and sponsoring and letting people advertise at their shelter. their operating budget was barely 600,000 dollars last year which is a shame. They really deserve more money and more help.


I love the how director guy was soooo full of himself. He stood there and acted like he just saved the world and deserved a metal for it. I was like.. omg you've got to be kidding me. You don't care at all! You just want publicity and to show your face off you the cameras. People at CCAS have been working so hard and you've been treating them so badly and now you want to act like you've been BFF with them when you've been nothing but horrible to them :frustrated:

What a jerk.

blahhh.