By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Ground was broken on the new St. Joseph animal shelter last week, but still there is a feeling of pure elation among the Friends of the Animal Shelter.
After going through the ups of having a new animal shelter, and the downs of not after the coronavirus pandemic made costs rise so high it became impossible, it all culminated when the city stepped up to pick up the project.
And for Friends of the Animal Shelter’s Ed Vanover, it was even more real when the groundbreaking happened
“I never really expected to see it happen in my lifetime,” Vanover says on the KFEQmunnity show. “Because we had so many hurdles we had to get over, so many roadblocks that kept popping up in front of us, the good thing is, it’s going to happen.”
Vanover says getting a new shelter in the city is important, and many may not think of that, because often people don’t think about the shelter until they need it
“They want to adopt an animal or they’re in a position where they can no longer keep their animal, then the animal shelter becomes important,” Vanover explains. “People don’t realize St. Joseph sits in the middle of the animal health corridor for the United States, that’s why we have so many animal health corporations and businesses in St. Joe, we should have an animal shelter that reflects that.”
The new shelter will be built along the south belt highway, next to the city recycling center.
Vanover with Friends though says now that the new shelter is happening, it is going to be a great thing for the animals and for the people of St. Joseph
“Because this is something that has been a long time coming, the current shelter is from 1975, that’s 50 years ago that shelters been in use,” Vanover says. “How many other buildings do we have that are still in use for the same thing after 50 years?”
The new shelter is expected to open June of next year.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.