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$2M Temple Animal Shelter expansion planned to ease overcrowding

Dogs and cats are doubled up in kennels and cages, so the city hopes to make more room with the expansion.

TEMPLE, Texas — The City of Temple is planning an expansion at the animal shelter to help with constant overcrowding.

According to Laurie Simmons, a spokeswoman for the city, the Temple Animal Shelter is constantly at, and most times, over capacity. In 2019, the shelter housed an average of 89 cats and dogs, but they only have room for about 56.

Simmons said they double them up in kennels and cages, so they’re hoping to make more room with the expansion.

"We really want the shelter to be a welcoming experience for families looking to find their forever pet, and so we want more people to come and more people to adopt so that we can then make more space for the animals that are coming in constantly,” Simmons said.

The Temple Animal Shelter does not turn away any animals and that includes wildlife, which is why they need more space.

The expansion is expected to cost about $2 million and it’s part of the city’s 2019 Strategic Plan, which has been passed. The good news is this won’t affect taxpayers. There’s already a tax rate in place, which will fund several improvements over the next six years and the shelter is one of them.

"Temple is growing an average of 70 households a month and we have to plan for that growth to make sure we can take care of our residents but also their pets,” Simmons said.

The expansion will include more kennels and cages, improvements to climate control, as well as expand adoption areas inside and outside where people can spend time with the pets before adopting.

Simmons said they are doing what they can to get pets into forever homes, but it’s not enough.

"The reality is the numbers, they just keep coming in. We keep having animals either dropped off, turned in by owners, or are finding strays on the streets, and so we need to be able to expand the shelter to make sure that we are taking care of the animal population,” Simmons said.

To get more pets adopted and to help with overcrowding, the shelter now opens two hours earlier on Saturdays at 10 a.m.

The City of Temple hopes to start construction in October 2021.

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