TCHS Excited to Move Into New Shelter Next Month [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD -- It's been ten years in the making but come next month, the Tri-County Humane Society will move into their new forever home.

The non-profit organization broke ground on their new 14,000 square-foot shelter back in November and construction is almost complete.

Tauna Quimby is the Manager of Fund Development for the organization. She says the new shelter is going to be a place that will provide better comfort for the animals and give staff and volunteers a state-of-the-art facility to provide better care and services.

We are an open admission shelter that serves over 3,000 animals every year. Serving them efficiently was one of the key things we needed to look at for the new shelter.

The new building (which is right behind the old building) is roughly double the size of the current shelter, and will includes larger kennel spaces, staff training rooms, lots of natural light, an upgraded HVAC system and an on-site surgical suite.

People don't realize that we do about 2,000 surgeries on shelter pets every year, so having this space in our building will just be fantastic.

Once the building is completed, the old shelter will be torn down to make room for a larger parking lot and walking trail.

Cheryl Ley is the Tri-County Humane Society Board President. She says while it will be hard to watch the current building come down, the new shelter will better serve the community.

The current shelter has done everything it possibly could have done, it's the little shelter that could. This building will be a real asset to the community.

Quimby says despite construction moving along, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed their fundraising efforts. She says they are roughly $2-million short of their $4-million goal.