Metro Phoenix has a new place to adopt, treat dogs, cats and 'critters'. Here's where

The Arizona Humane Society is set to open a new shelter and hospital facility in Phoenix, expanding the shelter's veterinary hospital services as well as kennel capacity to serve the Valley 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Located at 5501 E. Van Buren St. in Phoenix, the Rob and Melani Walton Papago Park Campus will replace the shelter’s Sunnyslope Campus.

Arizona Humane Society President and CEO, Dr. Steven Hansen, said the Sunnyslope Campus will not shut its doors for good when the Papago location opens. Instead, the shelter plans to remodel and reopen Sunnyslope as a full-service veterinary hospital.

In 2021, the nonprofit broke ground on the new facility in Phoenix. The Papago Park Campus will be the Humane Society’s third adoption location, an addition to the Nina Mason Pulliam South Mountain Campus and PetSmart Scottsdale locations.

The Rob and Melani Walton Papago Park Campus will be a full-service veterinary hospital as well as an adoption location. The facility will have a little over 350 cat kennels, 200 dog kennels, and 35 critter kennels between the hospital and adoption areas.

Additionally, the facility will increase the shelter's trauma care capacity by 25%, as well as offering 40% more affordable veterinary care.

Best known for taking in the Valley’s sick and injured pets and strays, the Humane Society envisioned a new campus that is better equipped to nurse those animals back to health.

“The old Sunnsylope hospital location for this shelter was completely inadequate for disease control,” said Hansen. “So now we can manage disease control in a much, much better manner.”

Hansen explained that the new Papago Park Campus has an improved ventilation system that will allow the shelter to keep animals completely isolated from one another. The ventilation system will circulate air from one building back into the same building, keeping diseases isolated to one area more effectively.

The new Rob and Melani Walton Papago Park Campus will also allow the shelter to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, something that the Sunnyslope campus’ location did not allow.

Set to open its doors March 6, the new campus features a new location for the popular Scottsdale-based coffee company, Echo Coffee. In the lobby of the Papago Park Campus, Echo Coffee will open a new full-service coffee shop.

“I think helping pets is one of the best ways to help people,” said Echo Coffee owner, Rob Rigolfi Jr. “And from what I can tell the Humane Society does the best job around at helping those animals.”

Echo Coffee has partnered with the Arizona Humane Society since 2021, donating 1% of all proceeds to the shelter. The Echo Coffee location in the lobby of the Papago Park Campus will continue this partnership in donating 1% of its proceeds to the shelter.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Metro Phoenix has a new place to adopt, treat dogs and cats