Shelter designed to centralize services

Lynn Doan and Ed Koch

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

When construction of the $14.5 million Animal Foundation regional shelter is completed and the doors are open, residents of unincorporated Clark County as well as their neighbors in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas will all benefit -- as will animals that are housed there.

So say proponents of the 74,000-square-foot "animal campus" at 655 N. Mojave Road that is scheduled to open June 1, 2005, as a one-stop site for turning in unwanted animals, finding lost pets, impounding strays and providing dog and cat adoption services.

The location should make dealing with the shelter more convenient because authorities "have found that 68 percent of all lost animals came from this area (central city)," Clark County Code Enforcement Officer Joe Boteilho said following Tuesday's ground-breaking ceremony at the site near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue. The city of Las Vegas donated the seven acres upon which new shelter is being built.

"Now people who lose their animals can come to one local, centralized spot to find them," Boteilho said. "They will no longer be inconvenienced."

Southern Nevadans who have lost their pets have long been frustrated, as have those who have turned in strays. Under ordinance, lost animals have to be taken to the pound in the jurisdiction where the person who found them resides, which is not necessarily the jurisdiction where the animal was found.

That has created scenarios such as a person residing in the northeast finding a stray dog across the street from the Animal Foundation's Lied Animal Shelter and being forced to take the animal to the county's Dewey Animal Shelter in southwest Clark County because the good Samaritan was a county resident.

In those same situations, owners of lost pets also have been angered, wondering why their missing animal was not taken to the nearest pound, forcing them to drive across the valley to search other shelter cages for their pet, said Boteilho, who for 10 years had pushed for a regional pound.

"There have been situations where pet owners were seniors on fixed incomes who could not afford -- or did not have the means -- to travel from shelter to shelter to find where their lost pet had been taken," Boteilho said.

"Having one shelter instead of multiple shelters provides not only centralization, but also will be cost-effective and will provide consistency in our efforts to have all animals sterilized before they are adopted."

Under county ordinance, animals that are eight weeks or younger are adopted out with a voucher for sterilization later at no additional cost -- a document that some pet owners opt not to use so they can backyard breed animals. Under Animal Foundation policy, all animals are spayed or neutered before they leave.

The new shelter, coupled with the foundation's existing Lied Animal Shelter, is expected to house more than 74,000 animals annually for the three entities, Animal Foundation spokesman Mark Fierro said.

The foundation, which has operated the city's pound since 1995, currently houses about 23,000 of the city's stray animals each year.

The foundation will begin a contract with North Las Vegas in March and a 10-year contract with Clark County in June, becoming the first organization to provide animal services for all three government agencies simultaneously. The old Clark County pound will be phased out by June 30, Boteilho said.

"This regional shelter will be a great asset for the entire community, to have all of the animal services for the city of Las Vegas, Clark County, and North Las Vegas in one location," said Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese, who represents the district in which the animal shelter is being constructed.

The foundation will cover most of the construction costs with private funds, not including the city's land donation.

Clark County is to pay the foundation $1.2 million annually for the first six years of the agreement, the same amount it paid the Dewey Shelter for animal services this year, and then $800,000 annually after that. The $400,000 difference in the first six years will help pay for the new facilities.

Fierro said North Las Vegas is to pay $300,000 annually for the first five years and then $250,000 annually after that. The city will also be ending its $250,000 annual contract with Dewey this year.

Fierro said the new shelter's electricity will run off the largest solar-powered system in Las Vegas, using solar panels and wind turbines to guarantee it is energy efficient.

"We want children to learn from the system because they're the dreamers that are going to take solar and wind power to the next level," Fierro said.

Janie Greenspun Gale, head of the Animal Foundation, said at Tuesday's ceremony that the regional shelter is the product of "visionaries past and present." She noted that designing the shelter as a "green building" shows the commitment of animal rights activists to also be ecological activists.

Gale is a member of the Greenspun family, owners of the Las Vegas Sun.

Fierro said the facilities also will include a vaccination clinic, a school for veterinary technicians, an animal care and adoption center and a barn to care for larger animals, including horses.

Construction plans call for 44 bungalows and 255 kennels in the new shelter, but Fierro said these numbers will grow as the foundation receives donations.

Those interested in donating or volunteering for the Animal Foundation's new facilities can visit: www.animalfoundation.com.