Place for traveling pooches: NYC's Kennedy airport set to build modern 'ARK'
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Place for traveling pooches: NYC’s Kennedy airport set to build modern ‘ARK’
Jet-setting stallions and high-flying hounds at New York’s Kennedy Airport can look forward to a new luxury terminal that will handle the more than 70,000 animals flying in and out every year. The ARK at JFK, its name inspired by Noah’s biblical vessel, will more than measure up to terminals for humans: Horses and cows will occupy sleek, climate-controlled stalls with showers, and doggies will lounge in hotel suites featuring flat-screen TVs. A special space for penguins will allow them mating privacy. The ARK is billed as the world’s first air terminal for animals. Set to open next year, the $48 million, 178,000-square-foot shelter and quarantine facility will take in every kind of animal imaginable. From here, they’ll head to barns, cages, racetracks, shows and competition venues in the United States and abroad.
A lot of our design making is in collaboration with veterinarians and consultants to help minimize the amount of stress placed on the animal.
Cliff Bollmann, a leading airport architect working on the ARK
Many arriving animals are quarantined for a period of time to make sure they’re not carrying contagious diseases. And the ARK is designed to make their stay as pleasant as possible, with hay-lined stalls for up to 70 horses and 180 head of cattle, plus an aviary and holding pens for goats, pigs and sheep. Even animals that don’t need to be quarantined will be held at the facility until departure or pickup by owners. Kennedy receives the bulk of animals entering the United States, but there are similar facilities near airports in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Juan. When completed, the facility is subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Animals will be charged fees — still being determined depending on services — that will help fund the terminal.
