By Zack Peterson
The Pasco County Animal Services Center proudly opened its latest addition on Friday, May 6, a new state-of-the-art animal adoption facility. Crowds of excited and dedicated volunteers gathered to witness the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony after their years of hard work.
Pasco’s Animal Services Center itself has been around since 1973, providing a place of refuge for all animals living without a home. But in 1993, the center strove to create a new building that further catered to the needs of strays everywhere — a building that could house a large number of animals in an organized manner that needed new homes.
“They began planning this building 20 years ago,” said Animal Services Center director John Malley. “It was the cost and construction that delayed it though. We were in the years of a ‘building boom’ and constructors and builders everywhere kept driving the costs of the project up.”
According to Malley, it was the “silver lining of the collapse of the building boom” that contributed to the building’s initial beginnings.
“It was finally dropped into a reasonable price range,” he explained.
Now, the Animal Adoption Services Center – known as building A in the blueprints of the overall facility – boasts a variety of new technological treasures thanks to its $3 million budget.
“It was a bonded building,” Malley said. “These funds were set aside for a long time so that it wasn’t taking tax dollars during a really bad financial downturn.”
Donations were rendered by those most faithful to the center, such as Tom Dobies and by organizations like Friends of Animal Services, whose sole goal is to help provide the needed funding for the materials necessary to animal welfare.
And with this surplus of help, the Animal Adoption Services Center flourished.
“We came up with the most state-of-the-art design,” Malley said. “The most advanced possible features.”
Malley estimates that the sheer size of the facility itself can also hold up to two times the amount of animals than the overall facility was previously able to house. Furthermore, many innovations were made regarding the cleanliness of the new building.
The plethora of new technology includes a brand new air conditioning system modeled specifically after those found in hospitals. Therefore, there’s no re-circulated air so that disease control can be maintained and held to a minimum.
There is also what Malley referred to as “the glazed block,” a sealed block within the system that doesn’t absorb disease-causing germs.
Alongside the installment of new stainless steel cage and raised flooring, the new building’s ventilation system is just one of the many benefits of the new center, the biggest being its impact on the community.
“I think the fact that it’s so beautiful, new and providing will really make people want to come and see the animals,” said Diane Koenig, a volunteer at the center. “Ultimately, that’s the goal.”
Thanks to the new work done at the Animal Services Center, stray animals desperately searching for a safe home now have a greater chance at finding just that. And to Malley and the multiple other volunteers who sacrifice their time to the well being of these animals, that’s what makes all the difference.
If you go
The Animal Adoption Services Center is at 19640 Dogpatch Lane (formerly Lake Patience Road) in Land O’ Lakes. Animals are available for half-price adoption ($20 for cats; $35 for dogs) through June 4.
