AURORA, Colo. — Aurora City Council approved a new animal shelter due to overcapacity at the current facility.
“A couple of years ago I secured $1.7 million for renovations at the shelter, but when an outside group came to look at it – they decided it’s beyond repairable for the needs of this facility," said Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky.
Following the pandemic, the shelter has been at capacity. The animal shelter can hold around 80 dogs. Most of them are strays, court case dogs, such as cruelty or aggressive dogs. If an owner is surrendering a dog, they would be put on a waitlist.
“Many times, we’ve had to shut our doors. I’ve had other shelters in the Denver metro area reach out to me and essentially tell me, Aurora is the problem and we can’t handle the overflow," said Jurinsky.
The current animal shelter was built in 1983, 40 years ago, and the city has grown since then Jurinsky said. Right now, the population sits at around 400,000, which means more people and more pets to the area that requires additional space.
The animal shelter is exploring different options to alleviate the overflow, one of those includes a foster program to encourage people to take in more foster pets.
"This brand-new facility is going to be amazing for us," said Anthony Youngblood, the vision manager for Aurora Animal Services. "We have been working in these conditions for a long time now and with the population growing, I think right now we're at roughly 400,000, the number of pets that are in this area is growing. What we can't take here, the overflow goes to the other shelters around us. It's creating a pinch."
It's unclear when the new facility could open, Youngblood said. The city has land secured for the new shelter and is in the design process. Depending on the design, the project could cost around $30-$40 million.
“We’re working with a designer that works on animal shelters because we have to worry about things like, drains, proper ventilation and areas to make sure we have enough space to put these animals," said Youngblood.
The city launched a fundraiser to support the construction. The funds raised from the Wine and Wags Fundraiser will help close the funding gap.
“I’m looking for private funding. I’m not one to jump to a tax increase, so I’m looking for private funding. I’m asking the community to come together and donate money and see how much we can raise privately," said Jurinsky.
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