Sheltered animals found a new residency in Larimer Humane Society’s new facility.
The Humane Society moved to a new, larger facility in Loveland over Labor Day weekend from their previous location on Kyle Avenue in Fort Collins.
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According to their website, the building of the new facility was ten years in the making. After a successful tax initiative and a $2.1 million capital campaign, the Humane Society was able to move 117 animals to the new facility on Labor Day and open its doors Sept. 5, according to Kaylene Weingardt, the marketing and community outreach manager.
“Our old shelter was over capacity from day one,” Weingardt said. “The old layout made it easier for disease to spread, had bad ventilation and made the animals more stressed.”
After being founded in 1969, Larimer Humane Society continued to serve the community in Fort Collins before their recent move to Loveland. They purchased the new land back in 2007.
The new facility is much larger and allows the animals to get more sunlight and fresh air. The smallest kennel in the new shelter is 1.5 times larger than the kennels in the old shelter, according to Weingardt.
“We thought everything through to benefit the animals,” Weingardt said. “This shelter is larger, brighter, cleaner and more organized. The animals are much happier here.”
The property includes an adoption center, intake lobby, veterinary clinic, barn and a dog park open to the general public. In addition, animals like cats have three separate housing areas, as well as enclosed outdoor spaces.
The facility’s new state of the art veterinary clinic is equipped with a new X-ray machine, something the old shelter lacked. The new intake lobby, which is where people can look for their lost pet or drop off a stray animal, now opens at 8 a.m. instead of 11 a.m.
According to their website, Larimer Humane Society is Northern Colorado’s largest open-admission animal care facility. The shelter takes in dogs, cats, small mammals and exotic animals.
On average, around 15 homeless animals are taken in daily and more than 2,800 companion animals are placed into homes annually, according to their website. Now, the Larimer Humane Society can house 80 percent more animals.
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“We are open admission to any animal in need,” Weingardt said. “We take in a lot of strays, but a high percentage of those are successfully reunited with their owners.”
Larimer Humane Society is also home to the county’s only Animal Protection and Control unit, and reunites nearly 1,900 stray animals with their owners annually, according to their website.
Aside from taking in animals, the shelter also offers educational programming through summer camps, presentations, shelter tours and other activities for adults, teens and children. For this purpose, the facility includes rooms dedicated to community outreach.
“We strive to educate our community on the proper and responsible care and treatment of all animals, including how we coexist with wild animals,” their website states.
“I want people to know that we are here for the community,” Weingardt said.
Weingardt encourages members of the community to attend the Nov. 4 open house from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
With a larger facility and higher intake of animals, Larimer Humane Society is always in need of volunteers. They are currently short on foster and animal care volunteers.
For more information on Larimer Humane Society or how to volunteer, visit their website.
Collegian news reporter Jenn Yingling can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @jenn_yingling.
