GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County Animal Services is preparing to open a new facility.
Guilford County Animal Services Director Jorge Ortega said the current animal shelter on West Wendover Avenue is run down with many structural issues. "It's exciting, it's full of emotions. It's an emotional roller coaster. There's a lot of history in the old facility good and bad but we want to start a new book here," said Ortega.
The new facility is much larger and is designed to make animals feel more comfortable and relaxed. It's located on Guilford College Road and can hold up to 550 dogs and cats and includes six dog adoption areas and two cat adoption areas. "In the new facility, we have a lot of natural sunlight. We have a lot of opportunities for our animals to get some fresh air which we cannot provide in our current facility," said Ortega.
The facility also includes a number of medical areas such as a spay and neuter suite, surgery prep areas, and an animal ICU. "We are able to provide a better service to the public. It is easily understood or easily identified if someone is here to adopt, or if someone is here and they found a stray and they need to drop them off at the animal shelter," said Ortega.
The animal services director said the moving process into the new facility starts at the end of October. "Once we get through the moving process and get everybody settled and get all the animals settled here then I think we can really start enjoying our new facility and really start helping out our community," said Ortega.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Oct. 29. The Director hopes to start services at the new facility by early November.