The old facility can hold 60 cats and 70 dogs, and the new facility can hold 100 dogs and 120 cats.
In about 12 weeks, the Muncie Animal Shelter will have a new home at 901 W. Riggin Rd.
Shelter director Phil Peckinpaugh said the shelter’s services have grown greatly in the four and a half years he has been director, which has led to a need for more space.
The shelter opened in 1988, and Peckinpaugh said it was never fully adequate due to being built quickly by the city to replace the problematic animal shelter at the time.
“The space that we have [is] very outdated … it’s built like a dog pound, and we are really trying to get away from being a dog pound and being an actual animal care facility,” he said.
The new building is 17,000 square feet; their current building is only 4,500 square feet. More kennels and a room for community-based activities are just two features of the new building.
When Peckinpaugh was appointed director by Mayor Dennis Tyler, finding a new building was one of the first things the two talked about. He said the new shelter will be something other cities can come see, and it should set a high bar for what shelters should be.
“Everything just seemed to click with this building. It was divided up perfectly, it had great community access, it’s a great location — everything just added up very nicely,” Peckinpaugh said. “I think it’s great for the community. I think it will really give the community a source of pride … it’ll be a very friendly and welcoming environment here.”
The classroom space in the shelter will offer enrichment programs for youth and adults, dog obedience classes and a junior animal control officer program. A reading program that allows youth to read to the animals is currently in place, but the program takes place off-site. The program will be moved on-site to the new facility.
“There’s really just endless possibilities,” Peckinpaugh said. “I just get giddy thinking about it … just that our animals will have an incredibly comfortable place and we’ll have something that we can all be so proud of … everything about it makes me excited."
There is currently an online fundraiser taking place for the new shelter, but Peckinpaugh said they haven't been pushing it much yet because the shelter needs to figure out exactly what they need so they can start advertising.
“We know that we’re going to need some new cages for cats, some paint … if we can reach out to the community and raise some money … we plan on really pushing it pretty hard over the next couple weeks,” Peckinpaugh said.
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