DECEMBER 10, 2009 ISSUE
New Humane Society Shelter Slated for Completion October 2010
The new, 14,000-square-foot Watauga Humane Society shelter, when completed, will have a country farmhouse kind of look, according to Shaun Lundy, president of the Watauga Humane Society.If everything follows according to plan, the new Watauga Humane Society shelter will be up and fully operational by October 2010. The much anticipated facility will be large, about 14,000 square feet. The animal care portion of Watauga County Animal Care and Control will merge with the humane society, while the police portion of the animal control organization will remain a separate entity.
“The reason why the new shelter is going to be so large is because most of the animals in the county will be routed to us,” said Shaun Lundy, president of the Watauga Humane Society. “It will be able to hold about 2,000 animals per year and that’s about what the humane society and animal control handle together each year. We took that into consideration when we started out with the basic design. That’s our goal, but it costs more and if money does not come in, we will scale back a little, though we will still be using green features.”
The price tag that comes with building a new shelter is $2.3 million.
“We’re trying to reduce that cost to any extent we can,” said Lundy. “We’re going to have a bank loan that we’re finalizing right now, but we need help with the funding. With the current shelter...we do the best we can. We’ve passed our inspections, but there are floodings and we’ve had warnings; we need to build a new facility.”
Included in the new humane society shelter and on the property will be a director’s room, a storefront, additional training space for dogs and walking trails.
“The shelter itself will have a country farmhouse kind of look,” said Lundy. “The indoor kennels will have radiant heat in the flooring and that is pretty standard for up here. We’re hoping to take nine months for the construction to be done, in July or August of 2010. There will be a transition period until the moving process can be complete. We’ve been at this facility and location for 40 years, so we will not be fully operational at the new shelter until October.”
Lundy said that it was important for people to know that the humane society really wanted to be able to handle all of the animals and that is why the financial needs of the shelter are getting larger.
“We’re getting $400,000 up front,” explained Lundy, “then $75,000 annually for the next 25 years from the county. We’re not complaining about the $75,000 per year, but we don’t want people to think we don’t need money. It will cost $500,000 per year to run the shelter.”
Ground was broken for the new facility—named the Irma Baker Lyons Adoption Center—on June 13. The property is located near the dog park off Don Hayes Road.
Meanwhile, the Watauga Humane Society shelter is still open, located at 200 Casey Lane in Boone. The mission of the society is to provide humane care and treatment for all animals needing protection and to return lost animals to their guardians. Donations can be sent to Watauga Humane Society, P.O. Box 1835, Boone NC 28607. For more information, call 828-264-7865 or click to www.humanesociety.org.
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