Five years after taking over management of the city-parish’s Animal Control shelter, the Companion Animal Alliance of Baton Rouge broke ground today on a new $12 million facility to shelter Baton Rouge’s stray dogs and cats.
The groundbreaking took place at 2390 Gourrier Ave., on land donated by LSU near the university’s School Veterinary Medicine. The new shelter is slated to open in late 2017.
After two years of discussions, LSU and CAA reached an agreement in 2015 to relocate the city-parish animal shelter to the university’s campus. Earlier this year, CAA launched a public campaign to raise funds for the project.
The $12 million project is being funded by private donations to CAA and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which is helping the alliance with the shelter project.
The roughly 30,000-square-foot shelter will replace the city-parish’s 40-year-old Animal Control shelter located on Progress Road near the Baton Rouge Metro Airport, according to a news release. The new shelter will have the capacity to hold 400 pets.
Though CAA, a nonprofit animal welfare organization, has increased the shelter’s save rate from 20% to 70% since taking it over in 2011, BRAF says the new facility will enable the nonprofit to further improve operations.
“It’s efficiently designed so it will be less expensive to operate. The location is easier to reach, so adoptions are expected to increase,” a BRAF news release says. “It is designed to contain diseases and to provide a more humane temporary home for dogs and cats while they await adoption.”
The new shelter also will feature a state-of-the-art veterinary clinic and an adoption center offering room to care for animals evacuated during hurricanes and other disasters, CAA’s website says. BRAF adds the new shelter will function as a place to train LSU Vet School students.
