The last phase of the move from the Hollister Animal Shelter
from their dilapidated 1,100-square-foot location to a gleaming,
state-of-the-art 7,200-square-foot building took place as city
employees moved dogs, cats, a Billy goat and a chicken Monday, when
the new building opened.
Jeff C. Gatlin – staff writer
HOLLISTER
The last phase of the move from the Hollister Animal Shelter from their dilapidated 1,100-square-foot location to a gleaming, state-of-the-art 7,200-square-foot building took place as city employees moved dogs, cats, a Billy goat and a chicken Monday, when the new building opened.
Anna Patterson worked in the old facility for more than seven years, and says this has been a long time coming.
“The need was here quite a while before I arrived,” says Patterson, adding that there was simply not enough room for the public.
Hollister Animal Control Director Julie Carreiro has been working at the old shelter since 1989, and she confirms Patterson’s opinion, that they had outgrown the old place “15 years ago” while listing the benefits of the new building, which has a total cost of between $1.5 million and $1.6 million.
“It’s so beautiful,” she says. “We will have an isolation and quarantine ward to control disease, indoor/outdoor kennels, and everything is just so much roomier and cleaner!”
Carreiro also says the shelter received a donation of high-quality cat cages from Nancy Sanchez, who took over the project when the original architect, her father Rob Sanchez, passed away.
The transition between Rob and Nancy Sanchez was “flawless,” says David Rubric, the associate civil engineer for the project.
“When someone dies unexpectedly you would expect a lot of problems to crop up, but Nancy stepped right in and took charge,” says Rubric.
The engineer also provided details about the cost of the project.
“The exterior walls came in about $350,000 to $400,000 and were contracted for with someone that specializes in designing modern kennels.”
Then the remaining improvements were $1.1 million.
That was money well spent, says Capt. Bob Brooks of the Hollister Police Department, which oversees animal control.
“The animals deserve this, the employees deserve it, and the public deserves it,” says Brooks as he led a tour of the modern, spotless kennels already filled with dogs.
Brooks demonstrates the ease with which each indoor and outdoor kennel could be opened to allow canines to choose where they want to be, or closed to put the dog in one particular spot.
“This facility is better in every way – it is really state of the art.”
