New animal shelter opens in east-central Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) – The five acres of land on Airways Drive between Peach and Clovis avenues will be the new home for the city’s new animal shelter.

The Gap Incorporated donated the land to the city to build the shelter.

This is a render of the state-of-the-art, $ 22 million facility with four buildings.

“This is one of the most bipartisan issues,” said Fresno City Council chairman Luis Chavez. “We have Democrats, Republicans, Cats, Dogs, coming together to make sure we solve a problem.”

Mayor Jerry Dyer, Council Member Garry Bredefeld, Chavez and Council Member Mike Karbassi announced the creation of a donation account for animal shelters that would impact rescues like Stitch, the Mayors’ Shih Tzu and the rescue dog.

“Today Stitch has a house and it’s with my wife Diane and I, and we love it very much,” Dyer said.

City leaders say their goal is to reduce the number of stray animals in the community, work with local rescue groups to get as many of these animals adopted as quickly as possible, and into loving homes with another important goal.

“To dramatically reduce the rates of euthanasia that we see for animals in our community,” said Dyer. “None of us want to see a sleeping animal.”

The facility will be a full-service, one-stop shop using these buildings for the administration, operations and housing of over 8,000 dogs and over 1,000 cats.

At present, the city still has the contract in place with the Central California SPCA for animal control services.

However, the mayor says they are still in the process of determining who will officially operate the refuge.

“I’ll tell you, I’d rather the City of Fresno run the shelter and the City of Fresno be the one doing animal control,” he said.

The mastermind behind this plan is Bredefeld.

He and his wife have Coco and Zoe, who are also lifeguards, so he says it’s important for the entire Fresno community to get involved.

“We’re going to run a first-class facility and any financial support or any other kind of support the community wants to provide, we’re open to that,” he said. “We’re just providing that so they can help us, help them, and help the whole community.”