Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter Finished With Move
Stephen Memorial’s Terry Gott comforts one of the small dogs that is up for adoption.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter has finished moving to its new location on the west side of Oskaloosa at 1716 Pella Avenue.
It’s been nearly a decade since the idea of a new shelter first came up, and the last four years have been spent with planning and eventually building the new facility. A decade worth of fundraising and planning to get the project off the ground has lead to the finished building. As of May 2018, the project needed an additional $900,000.
The Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter can trace its roots back to 1991 when the facility was then just a “pound” where stray animals were taken. Most animals, if not claimed within seven days, were euthanized.
That policy changed in 2011 as the shelter began to look for alternatives to euthanasia, and the survival rate of the animals that passed through the door went from 40% to now over 90% because of those policies. The euthanasia rate is now less than 8% for the shelter. The only times the shelter now euthanizes an animal is if they are so sick or so injured that there is nothing else to be done for the animal. Other times are if the animal is so vicious that basic care is made impossible.
Ferrell cats aren’t euthanized any longer either. The shelter has them spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies, and then made available to the barn cat program. The program has been popular with the rural community.
The new multi-million dollar facility brings the shelter up to date with the latest in techniques for housing animals. There are quarantine and treatment rooms designed to help keep the other animals safe from infection and disease.
Beyond the design, the facility now boasts open areas to allow those seeking a new pet to interact with the animals.
The facility can now house upwards of 50 cats waiting for a new home. For the canine lovers, there are 31 kennels in all. 24 large kennels and seven small dog kennels. That number includes their isolation and quarantine rooms.
Those isolation and quarantine rooms can be used to house adoptable dogs when the shelter becomes full.
The new animal shelter has been something that the community has gotten behind. Community members have held fundraising events such as the recent one at Debbie’s Celebration Barn, while local businesses like Mahaska Drug have worked to help raise money in their store.
It’s now easier than ever to look at the currently adoptable pets from Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter. You can visit their website and check them out HERE – http://www.stephenmemorial.org/adoptable-pets.html or also on Petfiner.com HERE – https://www.petfinder.com/.
You can learn more about the shelter by visiting them on their website http://www.stephenmemorial.org/ or by calling them at (641) 673-3991.
The shelter is planning on an open house in the near future.
