Animal Rescue League to open new, twice-as-big shelter in Des Moines by mid-December

Iowa's largest nonprofit animal shelter will soon be twice as large.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is moving from its 31-year-old animal control quarters to a new, 22,000-square-foot hub at 1441 Harriet St., next to Peter Crivaro Park and Southeast 14th Street. Its headquarters will remain at 5452 NE 22nd St.

Animal Rescue League services director Joe Stafford said that with more than 200 kennels for dogs and cats, an adoption wing, a veterinary clinic and outdoor space for play, the facility is not just an animal shelter, but a place to support keeping family and pets together.

A third-party consultant in 2017 determined that the organization had outgrown its current animal control facility at 1615 SE 14th St. and was ill-equipped to handle the volume of animals coming through its doors, as well as an expected surge in the pet population as the city grows.

Construction costs for the new shelter, paid for and owned by the city, have skyrocketed to $12.5 million from an estimated $5.5 million.

The Animal Rescue League has provided all of Des Moines' shelter services since 2005 and animal control services since 2009, handling dog bites, stray and wild animal detainment and animal cruelty investigations. It will continue those services in the new facility, slated to open in mid-December.

Tom Colvin, who has served as the rescue league's CEO since 1995 and has been working in the field since 1974, said the new facility will help accommodate a "drastic" shift in how society views its pets.

"They're not tied in the backyard anymore. They're sleeping in our beds," Colvin said. "And all of what we're dealing with from the ... Animal Rescue League's partnership in this realm just needs to catch up with this whole line of thinking. The whole thing is very positive."

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He said the organization is working with the city to reflect those societal shifts in the city's pet ordinances, gearing them toward encouraging owners to get their pets licensed and vaccinated instead of penalizing them for failing to do so.

Stafford said the new building also is located near a future pullout site for the ICON water trails project, which he hopes will help reel in visitors.

"This is really a game-changer for our community," he said.

The City Council is set to approve a 10-year shelter and field services agreement at a meeting in October.

Animal Rescue League adds adoption, outdoor play space at its new shelter

Stafford said the difference between the old and new facilities is like "night and day."

The new facility will house an adoption wing with more than 130 kennels for dogs and cats, providing a facility for the east side of the city, Stafford said. Currently, ARL adoption facilities are housed at its 5452 NE 22nd St. office, 7 miles north of the existing shelter. The new wing has community rooms for people to socialize with dogs and cats as well as space for training and play groups.

Stafford and Colvin said the facility also offers high-tech and environmentally conscious features, such as self-contained rooms with air cleaned by ultraviolet light to keep animals healthy. The building itself is powered by the city's solar field.

The cat kennels are larger than those at the current shelter and include bubble windows and space for litter pans. The dog kennels, which have skylights, are sized to fit large dogs like Great Danes and Pyrenees and can be reconfigured to provide even more space. The shelter has separate food prep areas for dogs and cats.

The services wing on the other side of the building will manage lost pets, vaccinations, spaying and neutering services, a pet pantry, veterinary care, microchipping and a shelter for crisis situations if, for example, a pet owner needs to temporarily leave a pet in the organization's care.

The facility also includes a surgical suite with an exam room, an X-ray machine, pre- and post-operative holding space, a waiting area for pets, a washer and dryer and isolation space for sick pets, Stafford said. In addition, there is a decontamination room where animals and staff exposed to chemicals, such as pepper spray, can wash off.

Getting dogs outside is both the "ultimate enrichment" and critical to keeping dogs healthy, Stafford said. A grassy outdoor space will host multiple, large dog kennels and will have a walking trail where the dogs can play and socialize.

The shelter will be open seven days a week, instead of the current five, with extended business hours. The organization also will add staffing, including adding three community officers to the current five who handle field calls, Stafford said. Officers will be assigned to certain districts across the city to make field calls more efficient.

New pet measures could be on the horizon

At a council work session on Sept. 11, Colvin told council members the city should work to enact ordinances and city policy changes that are less punitive, and instead, take an educational approach to help residents meet their pets' welfare needs and address animals' behavioral concerns while ensuring public safety.

If, for example, a pet gets out and ends up with the rescue league, it currently may cost the owner $150 to get it back, Colvin told the Register.

"A lot of people may say, 'I can't afford that,' and walk away, where we want to see pets spayed or neutered, vaccinated, licensed, all of those things," he said. "If we can help them do that and get their pet back, then they won't just get another pet and start the whole process over."

Among the recommendations Colvin made during the work session:

• Starting a trial program of waiving late pet licensing fees for first-time offenders.

• Making the pet licensing program a fully online process, using the license anniversary as the renewal date and considering multi-year licenses to coincide with longer vaccination periods.

Deputy City Manager Matt Anderson said the city staff and council will revisit some of the ordinance and policy-change initiatives suggested by ARL at the start of 2024.

Correction: The captions in this article initially described the size of the new facility incorrectly. It is double the size of the existing facility.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What's inside the Animal Rescue League's new Des Moines shelter?