Progress is coming along at Huntsville Animal Services, where phase one of construction on the new shelter is almost complete. A new room of kennels is almost ready.
“They’re finishing up on some of the kennels with what I call a pass-through,” said Karen Buchan, Animal Care Supervisor at Huntsville Animal Services.
Buchan says the goal is more room and a better environment for for the animals.
“What we’re doing is taking kennels and instead of having a small kennel, it’s a walk through so they end up with a larger space,” she explained. “One side they sleep in and one side– hopefully they can hold it, but if they can’t– they can go to the bathroom there.”
Once construction wraps up, there will be around 90 kennels. However, Buchan says the project not about adding more kennels so more animals can be brought in.
“It’s to better the animals’ stay while they’re at the facility– especially if we have cruelty cases. Sometimes we have to hold them for months,” she said.
Air quality inside the new shelter will also be better. Buchan says disease in an animal shelter environment is common, so they want to improve that.
“One of the main things we were having issues with was the air intake into the shelter area where the dogs are,” said Buchan. “We will have a whole new system that will take that air in and out within seconds so it’s a constant flow of new air coming in.”
As construction continues at the shelter, Buchan says they’re tight on kennel space. Once phase one is complete, the animals will be moved into the new kennels. At that point, the old kennels will be updated. Throughout the process, they’ll be tight on space for the animals. Until construction is complete, most adult dogs and cats are completely free to adopt. There are some exceptions.
“Anyone can go on our website and look at the pictures of the animals available for adoption,” said Buchan. “It shows dogs and cats.”
Buchan says an average of 10 animals are brought to the shelter every day so they can use your help.
More information about the sleepover and foster programs can be found here.
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