New Ottawa Humane Society opens in the west end
Posted Jul 6, 2011 03:36:47 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After 5 years of planning and roughly $12 M, the Ottawa Humane Society has a new, state-of-the-art building to help care for the more than 11,000 pets that need the community’s help each year.
The new facility at 245 West Hunt Club Road is about three times the size of the old one at 40,000 square feet, has better veterinary care and can now handle emergencies until 1 am.
The federal government contributed $3.6 M to the cost of the building and Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen helped to officially open the new facility.
Laureen has been a long-time volunteer and has chaired the Fur Ball, helped fundraise and has fostered dozens of cats. The Harpers have also adopted three cats through the Ottawa Humane Society.
This new facility has been a pet project of Laureen’s and she said she was genuinely thrilled and proud of what has been accomplished.
“It was barely a year ago that Rachel (Harper) and I and John Baird pitched in at the ground breaking ceremony,” she said. “And now we have a building that is truly state-of-the-art, a place where animals can come from difficult circumstances can come and recover their health and get back on their feet, or their paws, so to speak.”
The layout of the new facility, including animal pods with large windows, is very adoption focused according to Sharon Meko, OHS Director of operations.
“When our clients come in and are looking to adopt an animal, it allows them to interact, to see the dog and have an opportunity to read a little bit about the dog,” she said. Then interested families can meet with potential pets in contact rooms, a new feature in this building.
Compared to the old building this space is brighter, cleaner, and doesn’t smell like wet dog.
The entire facility has a different feel from the old one as OHS Executive Director, Bruce Roney, explained.
“You walk through the building and everybody’s calm,” he said. “And that’s from this rabbit in front of me, through the cats, the dogs, the volunteers, the staff. Everybody’s relaxed.”
He said the old facility was so crowded and dark everyone was stressed and that made life difficult for the animals.
Now they have enough space for 400 cats and 80 dogs to live comfortably at once and in a safer, cleaner environment.
The new facility also has dog runs, a dog park and a community room where cats live together and anyone can drop in for a visit.
And another new function of the facility is education. Potential pet owners and visitors will be able to learn about responsible care and proper treatment of animals.
