GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – The brand new 12 months will mark the start of a long-awaited challenge in Clay County — a brand new animal shelter.
After years of planning, development is ready to start in early 2025. The shelter can be situated at 20 Sleepy Hole Street in Middleburg, a extra centralized location supposed to enhance entry and neighborhood engagement.
Ernest Hagan, director of Clay County Animal Companies, shared that the brand new facility will span almost 35,000 sq. toes.
“Within the circumstances the place we do must take the animals in, it’ll be a a lot nicer setting for them to be in,” Hagan mentioned. “It can accommodate much more employees, much more neighborhood engagements, and it’ll be much more useful to the animals that we’ve got in our care.”
Dr. Jennifer Inexperienced, medical director for the shelter, highlighted the advantages of a bigger medical suite within the new facility.
This growth will improve surgical procedure companies for the Lure, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return (TNVR) program for cats and permit for extra rabies vaccines and microchips to be supplied to the neighborhood.
The brand new shelter may also assist Clay County keep its no-kill standing.
“We should always be capable to have X-rays, so we’ll be capable to provide simply much more, and be capable to get these animals that possibly want just a little bit of additional assist and love and time to the rescues that they have to be in,” Inexperienced mentioned.
The county has lengthy outgrown the present shelter that was constructed a long time in the past. Inexperienced defined the challenges they face within the present constructing and the way the brand new facility will deal with these points.
“With the brand new constructing, we’ll have much more house,” she mentioned. “Proper now, we do must generally double up a few of our pets within the kennels, and we’d like to have the ability to have them have their very own house.”
Securing a brand new shelter is a big achievement for Hagan and his crew, one which he hopes will function a mannequin for different shelters.
“It could simply be a greater, useful state of affairs for the county and the residents itself, and we glance to be a beacon facility that others might look to, to emulate,” Hagan mentioned.
Though the shelter will take 18 months to construct, Inexperienced is keen for its completion.
“This neighborhood has grown exponentially because the shelter opened within the ’60s and ’70s,” she mentioned. “With the inhabitants development of individuals, we’ve got a inhabitants development of animals as effectively, so we’ll be capable to serve much more.”
The brand new shelter will value $21.5 million to construct. As soon as accomplished, the present shelter is ready to develop into a inexperienced house for the neighborhood.
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