FAYETTEVILLE — A little love and some hefty donations have the animal shelter in Fayetteville feeling less like a pet prison and more like a place for humans and furry friends to get to know one another.
Work started last year to put cats and dogs at opposite ends of the shelter at 1640 S. Armstrong Ave. The dogs got new kennels, and the puppies moved into what used to be office space.
The cats got the royal treatment this year. Four rooms line the north wing of the building. Felines can lounge in multilevel cat condos in the four-seasons room. The windows making up three sides basically serve as a feline IMAX theater. Two smaller rooms — one for cats and another for kittens — allow the animals room to roam and get to know prospective adopters. An entrance was added to a fourth room to get straight to the adoptable cats, rather than walking through the front.
The cats rule their domain with a little more square footage than before. Gone is the TV that used to simulate the outdoors. Now bird feeders attract real, chirping entertainment.
Donations made the new digs possible. The late Lib Horn, who was the shelter’s director from 1987 to 2001, bequeathed $30,000 to the shelter after her death in November 2015. The building was named for her shortly thereafter.
About $100,000 of work and equipment was provided this year. A new security system and cameras, new kennels, oxygen chamber for animals with respiratory infections, oxygen concentrators and an exam table for the intensive care unit joined the cat rooms as new additions.
The shelter received nearly $50,000 in donations from January to November, said Justine Lentz, shelter superintendent. She estimated another $6,000 to $10,000 would come in by the end of the year.
“It’s a good representation of a typical year,” Lentz said.
The overall budget for the shelter from the city’s general fund is just more than $1 million. That covers animal control and vet clinic programs, as well as general maintenance, staffing, food and supplies.
Donations go toward improvements such as the new cat rooms, new equipment at the vet clinic and expensive surgeries that require specialists, Lentz said. The capital improvement fund is separate. Next year, the shelter is to get a new air-conditioning system and LED lighting.
Horn’s influence also reached the Washington County shelter. That facility, which Horn helped create in 2011 after the city’s shelter stopped accepting animals found in the county, completed a number of projects last year with the $70,000 it received from her estate.
The county shelter has a new cat enclosure; concrete, outdoor dog kennel runs with awnings; a supervisor’s office; and $1,000 worth of medical supplies. Those projects took up about $40,000 of Horn’s donation, Director Angela Ledgerwood said.
Horn’s money also has helped the county conduct its annual Pet Palooza adoption event. Additionally, the shelter was able to buy a trailer to transport animals to no-kill facilities when the county’s space fills up.
“She wanted the money she was planning to leave the shelter to be put to use on any project I felt would benefit the shelter — projects that our operating budget would never cover,” Ledgerwood said. “She did not want the money to be used for operating expenses.”
Ledgerwood has considered getting an intercom system, a dog agility and training yard, or maybe a vehicle to go along with the trailer next year.
“I’m not sure yet what 2018 will bring,” she said. “We will use the money, I just want to be sure it is well-spent and that Lib would be pleased with my choices.”
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimates that 6.5 million dogs and cats fill America’s shelters every year. About 3.2 million get adopted. Those that enter as strays, about 710,000, are returned to their homes. About 1.5 million are euthanized.
Fayetteville’s adoption statistics fare better. More than half of the 1,840 animals taken to the shelter this year have been adopted. About 36 percent made it back home. The shelter euthanized 97 animals through Nov. 30, mostly for health or temperament reasons. None were euthanized to clear space, according to the shelter’s adoption statistics.
Karen Abbott Beeks, former Quorum Court coordinator for Washington County, described Horn as a fabulous person who cared for all animals. Beeks first met Horn when Les Howick was helping develop animal control, and spay and neuter programs. Howick, for whom the shelter is named, was the first chairman of the county Animal Concerns Advisory Board.
Beeks got to know Horn better during the county shelter’s construction. She said Horn would be thrilled to know about the shelter improvements being made in her honor.
“That would absolutely fill her heart with joy,” Beeks said. “There is no doubt that she is smiling down from heaven.”
The Fayetteville shelter isn’t finished. Plans are underway to install large, storefront-type windows to get natural light to the dog area. Shelter staff members want to do what they can to reduce stress during the animals’ stay, Lentz said.
“When this building was built, it served us really well, and it still is serving us well, but it was built in a very utilitarian style,” she said. “A lot of the windows are very high and small.”
Construction is expected to start in the spring.