AUSTIN, Texas — With the new year fast-approaching, Austin Pets Alive! is looking ahead.
Come early 2025, renovations will begin for the animal shelter. The city of Austin approved emergency repairs for the animal shelter, which will include doubling the size for kennels, improved drainage and an improved heating and cooling system, according to Director of Public Relations & Communications, Luis Sanchez.
The 70-year-old facility has been long overdue for repairs, but Sanchez said these are temporary fixes. The goal is to rebuild it from the ground up, but that won’t happen for another 3 to 4 years, according to Sanchez.
“There’s significant amount of power lines [at the shelter.] There’s a water main that’s actually running through the property, so we can’t completely rebuild until the city of Austin gives us a permission to we figure out what we’re going to do with these power lines,” said Sanchez.
For the time being, the repairs will help keep the dogs comfortable and safe. Sanchez pointed to the unpredictable and chaotic weather Texas brings and believes controlling the climate within the shelter will have the biggest impact.
“Having a constant climate control for our dogs in their kennels is really important to make sure that they’re healthy, they’re comfortable, and the shelter environment is at least a little bit less stressful for them,” said Sanchez.
The repairs are being funded through donations with a price tag of about $350,000.
However, in order to make these repairs happen and keep it smooth sailing during construction, Sanchez said they need to clear out some of the kennels. They’re hoping for the community to either foster or adopt 50 dogs by New Year’s Eve.
“50 dogs is the number that we need to get to to make sure that we can get to 100 kennels being used, which then gives us the capacity to start tearing down walls, and doing all the things that we need to do,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez said the dogs that stay at the shelter will be moved throughout the facility to ensure safety and avoid disruption for the animals during construction.
The work is likely to last for at least a few months, according to Sanchez.
APA! will be waiving adoption fees from Dec. 27 through New Year’s Eve.