Animal shelter construction to start next month

Construction will start in January on a $3.3-million animal shelter for Catawba County, a replacement for a 27-year-old facility that regularly operates 50 percent above its capacity.The roomier building with space to isolate sick animals would make it easier to cope with disease like the highly contagious upper respiratory infection that swept the building two years ago,Simulation dinosaur replica suppliers, forcing the county to kill all 200 animals held there. The building is now closed twice a year to sanitize all surfaces, while all its cats and dogs are held outside in temporarily kennels.

"Our No. 1 issue is overcrowding," said Bryan Blanton,Artificial Landscape, county emergency service director. The shelter, designed for 102 animals, has averaged 150 a day for the past two years. One day two years ago, the population hit 259 animals.That means multiple animals are held in the same kennel, which can lead to fights and illness.Dogs must be removed two and three times a day so their kennels can be cleaned. Kennels in the new building will have outdoor runs so the dogs can be herded outside so the indoor sections can be cleaned.

The new building will be built in Newton, off Radio Station Road, on the northwest side of the county government complex. The current shelter is nearby, on the south side of the complex, off Southwest Boulevard.It will be 17,000 square feet, with room for 233 animals. Edison Foard Inc., a Charlotte-based contractor, was the low bidder. The new building should open in spring 2014. It is designed to reduce energy consumption, with the extra cost of construction paying for itself in seven to nine years, a staff analysis said.