Animal shelter hopes to add new humane education facility | Collierville Independent

Collierville Animal Services is hoping that the construction of a humane education facility equipped with 24 outdoor kennels will reduce the long term impact of stray animals in the community.

Members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen were scheduled to vote on the proposed $874,000-facility Tuesday night during their semi-monthly meeting.

Noting that $970,941 has been collected from donors to fund the project, Chip Petersen, director of the town’s Community Services Department, said a volunteer movement began a decade ago to build a new facility at the animal shelter with the purpose of hosting adult and youth events “in the name of humane education.”

According to Petersen, the facility will provide a location for education in proper animal care and understanding.

“As proven by the past 10 years of education, care and training,” he wrote, “they all help to reduce the overpopulation of domestic animals.”

Petersen said the facility will offer community and volunteer training, educational classes, a variety of youth day camps, rentals for birthdays and other events, as well as employee training.

The project will also feature a 2,280-square-foot outdoor area that will be divided into 24 kennels.

Petersen said the kennels will allow employees and volunteers to get all of the dogs out of the shelter each morning in order to clean the indoor pens. Currently one dog is taken outdoors at a time.

“Now we will be able to transfer a dog to the outdoor kennels, schedule walking as volunteers arrive and clean the shelter immediately and at once,” Petersen wrote. “This is a tremendous, labor-saving step concerning operations.”

While the project originally included a surgery wing, bids came in over projections last year, forcing officials with the animal services department back to the drawing board.

A second bid that excluded the surgery wing and reduced the size of several other components was made last month.