Houma-Terrebonne Chamber usher in new year
January 20, 2015Season for cakes fit for royalty – Mardi Gras kings, that is
January 21, 2015
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government will break ground on a new animal shelter by April of this year, according to Jeanne Bray, Capital Projects Administrator for TPCG.
The new construction will cost a total of $3.5 million.
The final architectural plans will be delivered on January 23 and advertising for construction bids will begin in February. A contractor, or contractors, will be selected by the end of March, said Bray.
“The overall square footage of the animal shelter will triple,” said Valerie Robinson, Terrebonne An-
imal Shelter Manager. The shelter’s capacity for housing dogs will not change, but new construction will allow for the segregation of adopt-able dogs from unadoptables.
Some animals may be deemed unadoptable because of health reasons or a violent temperament.
“Keeping them segregated helps to keep them healthy,” said Robinson. Some dogs may have a contagious disease.
Keeping unadoptable animals separated will also free up space for adoptable ones.
The space allotted for cats will be increasing, though, said Robinson. There will be a new “cat condo” area, featuring large, stackable cages that can fit multiple cats along with toys and bedding.
There will also be a community cat room “which allows them to free roam… more like a home setting,” said Robinson. People will be able to play with the cats there, allowing them to preview their behavior before making a decision.
Funding Difficulties
Philotherian Terrebonne residents have been expecting a new animal shelter for quite some time now. Funding for the project was within reach before, but other parish needs came first, according to parish president Michel Claudet.
“I think that it’s something that many of the people of Terrebonne have wanted for quite some time. Unfortunately, we have to prioritize our needs,” said Claudet. “First for us was our levees, pump stations and roads. We’ve made tremendous strides in that area and so know we can do some of the extra, great quality of life things [for] our area like our skateboard park and the animal shelter.”
Originally this project was funded through the community development block program, offered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but there were a “multitude of reasons why that project was taken out of the CDBG pool,” said Bray.
The project is being funded by a variety of sources, including $450,000 from state bonds, a $500,000 grant from the Houma-Terrebonne Public Trust Financing Authority that was originally promised in 2013, and the difference paid for by the TPCG, according to Bray.
Expanding Programs, Decreasing Intake
Aside from expanding the shelter’s space to house strays, the Terrebonne Animal Shelter will also be expanding programs to reduce the total number of animals in need of shelter to begin with.
“We see the future as enhancing and adding programs aimed to reduce intake,” said Robinson.
In 2009 the spay and neuter program was started. The shelter used to take in nearly 8,000 animals a year, said Robinson.
“Since the inception of our spay and neuter program, we’ve seen a decrease in intake by 500 per year,” said Robinson. “Last year was a plateau of about 6,500.”
Another program intended to reduce animal intake at the shelter includes a pet retention program which assists people with keeping their pets. The shelter partners with animal trainers to help “in the event Fido is acting aggressively, or maybe he’s marking, or doing some unwanted behaviors,” said Robinson. Instead of someone surrendering an animal to the shelter, it helps them to keep their pet by modifying whatever that issue might be.
Another program is a partnership with Petsmart’s Rescue Waggin’ ®, a program that moves animals from the Terrebonne shelter to shelters in the northern part of the country that have high adoption rates and waiting lists of people waiting to adopt.
It is still unknown what will come of the current shelter, though. The outcome of this current facility hasn’t been decided and will probably be decided after the move into the new facility has taken place, said Robinson.
Valerie Robinson, Manager of the Terrebonne Animal Shelter, holds ‘Flip,’ up for adoption at the Houma Petsmart right now.
