Christ Yoder
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GREENSBORO, NC (WGHP) – Animal shelter.
Just the sound of these two words evokes negative waves. But for the first time in more than 50 years, Guilford County is on the verge of rejecting the term.
In October, he will open the brand new 33,000 square foot Guilford County Animal Resource Center on Guilford College Road in west Greensboro.
“What I would like everyone to know is that we are here to help first and foremost,” Jorge Ortega, Guilford County Animal Services Director, told me as he showed me around the new place. “We are not dog catchers. We are not the canine police. We are not the dog pound.
And while that may have been the underlying mission of the facility that the new building replaces, the 1950s Guilford County Animal Shelter off West Wendover Avenue looks like anything but.
I have covered so many stories about and involving this installation over the years that I have lost count. But I haven’t lost the memory of the creaking mechanical gate, the concrete building with few windows and the smelly, dark, damp and noisy conditions.
The new place doesn’t even have a fence around it. And that is exactly what Ortega wanted: a more welcoming, comfortable and, yes, human establishment.
“I want our community to see us as a resource,” he said. “We’re in the people’s business.”
It might sound a little unusual coming from a director of animal services. But Ortega believes that if the county fixes some of the “human” problems associated with animals, animal welfare in the county will improve and more animals will survive.
It’s a theme throughout the new place.
Take, for example, the reception hall (where people can abandon their pets) and the separate adoption hall (where prospective adoptive families can enter and begin the process of adopting their next pets) are welcoming. and bathed in natural light.
There are several separate ‘get to know’ rooms for families to get to know the dogs and cats. For dogs, there’s even an artificial turf yard to play with their potential humans.
There is even an educational space where Ortega hopes to organize summer camps for young people in the hopes of teaching them to treat and care for animals well.
When someone brings an animal into the lobby, staff work diligently with that person to find alternatives to returning the animal in the hopes of increasing the chances that the animal can find a home. forever.
The Animal Services team also hopes to continue working with other agencies in the county to find out why so many people are abandoning their pets, and to address those issues.
Ortega believes this will drastically reduce the number of animals arriving at the resource center in the first place.
But for those who find themselves here, this facility offers much more.
Animal control officers may drive their vehicles into a closed area to unload stray animals they pick up.
There is a full veterinary hospital on site where two full-time vets will perform surgeries and treat sick animals in addition to sterilization.
“Whether they (the animals) are in the intensive care unit of the medical clinic or in their kennel, the way the building is designed with a medical clinic, it’s easy access for technicians or vets to get to those animals pretty quickly, ”Ortega pointed out.
And in the adoption area, the animal housing areas are about as modern as it gets. There is plenty of space in the indoor / outdoor tracks which are designed to minimize the spread of disease.
The new facility is capable of accommodating around 600 animals. It’s pretty much the same as the old shelter. But again, Ortega thinks we shouldn’t be building bigger animal shelters because it shows that you aren’t doing enough to keep animals out of shelters.
Oh, and by the way, the budget for the new place was supposed to cost over $ 15 million. It is actually a little under budget. How many times do you hear something like this?
Not often.
Just as Ortega hopes not to hear the term “animal shelter” again in the future. At least not for Guilford County.
For more information on Guilford County Animal Services, click here.
