Volunteers and local officials break ground for the future site of the Mower County Humane Society, near the airport Friday afternoon. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Digging in to animal shelter’s new home

Published 7:00pm Saturday, October 6, 2012
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One small shovelful for the Mower County Humane Society, one giant hole for Austin’s new animal shelter.

MCHS volunteers broke ground on a 9,000 square-foot animal shelter Friday afternoon. The shelter, an aluminum structure which should take about four months to complete, won’t necessarily take more animals than the current MCHS shelter, which can house up to 100 cats and 25 dogs without issue.

Kelly Rush speaks during a groundbreaking for the new Mower County Humane Society near the airport Friday afternoon. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

“We’re pretty happy,” said Kelly Rush, MCHS volunteer.

While MCHS volunteers will have more room to house the animals, the best part of the new shelter lies in its air filtration system, which allows for better air circulation which means less health concerns.

According to MCHS President Jay Lutz, the building is designed with under-floor heating and air control ventilation, with as many green practices as possible.

Though MCHS volunteers briefly considered geothermal heating, the cost to install it outweighed the benefits at this time.

“We still have to be able to operate on a shoestring budget,” he said.

MCHS volunteers sought a larger building for years as the demand to house wayward animals has grown. Though MCHS started using its shelter at 10th Street SE in 1999, the building wasn’t large enough to properly house many animals.

After several donors stepped in with almost $400,000 in funding last year, MCHS volunteers started to research a new building as well as potential land to put it. MCHS partnered with the city of Austin earlier this year to find land where a new MCHS shelter and a new city shelter could share space, which would reduce costs for both organizations.

The new building won’t come cheap. It will cost a bit more than $600,000 for Austin-based Wagner Construction to put the building up, not counting the concrete, land use, and new street leading to the shelter.

While the Austin City Council will consider purchasing the lower third of the land bought by MCHS at its next council meeting Oct. 15, Lutz said in total the project would cost the humane society more than $800,000.

Left: Helga, an adopted pitbull belonging to Mower County Humane Society volunteer Liz Coughlin, sits with volunteers as they prepare to break ground at the future site of the MCHS's new building. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

MCHS stills need to raise more money to pay for the project, though Lutz says the humane society should be able to pay for the building itself. Yet the new building signifies a definite need in the community and a commitment to be responsible with wayward pets.

“Based on the feedback we’ve gotten, it seems this is important to everyone in the community,” Lutz said.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/Stephanie.K.Hanson Stephanie Hanson

    So can the new shelter house more animals or not? It says both.

    Report comment

  • ktlsppr

    Why the #*$&$% does Austin need a new City Dog Pound if the Humane Society is building a shelter?

    Report comment

    • jmdaniel

      The Humane Society isn’t owned or run by the city, and stays in existence due to volunteers and donations. So take them out of the equation, and instead ask the question, why does the city of Austin need a dog pound? Kind of a dumb question now, isn’t it? A better question would be, why does the city of Austin have individuals that treat their pets as disposable objects, rather than living, breathing animals? If you could find the answer to that, and by answer, I mean fix that horrible issue, the need for a dog pound would go way down. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

      Report comment

      • ktlsppr2

        What are you talking about??? Thats exactly what I asked “why does Austin need a City of Austin Dog Pound” So apparantly your asking the dumb question. I know the Humane Society never kills animals and the city does, but if that’s the only reason to have a seperate brandnew City Dog Pound can’t they just outsource that to another city or put the animals down without building 2 brand new buildings??? If the Humane Society raises the money for a new shelter great, but why does the city need one at all? Other cities go without a city run pound if they have a Humane Society or other group to fit that need. Huge waste of tax payer money.

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      • jmdaniel

        Name those cities. Name cities the size of Austin, or larger, that don’t have city services to round up stray animals. What you’re going to find is that there aren’t any, and that you’ve made another dumb statement.

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      • ktlsppr3

        Straight from the Albert Lea City’s website: The City of Albert Lea Animal Shelter is operated by the Freeborn County Humane Society through an agreement with the City of Albert Lea. http://www.cityofalbertlea.org/departments/police/animal-control/ Again, looks like your making the dumb statements.

        Report comment

      • jmdaniel

        Do you know what “through an agreement” means? Probably not, so take notes. Albert Lea is providing city services to round up and house their stray animals, and they are doing it “through an agreement” with FCHS. And lemme clue ya Skippy, AL is PAYING FCHS to do it. So keep looking for a city that doesn’t provide those services. Austin doesn’t have a similar agreement with MCHS, hence the Austin dog pound. Gotta run to my day job, so you’ll have to ask someone else to help you with the big words.

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      • Stella62

        It’s exhausting, isn’t it, jmdaniel? Placing the dots, connecting the dots, then
        pointing out the little picture you created?

        I was going to respond to them and say that if a Freeborn
        Humane Society member enters a residence (without a police escort) and seizes
        property (let’s say a dog), then I hope they have a good attorney on
        retainer. They will need it.

        I also was going to say that MCHS could build a gargantuan animal
        shelter and house 1,000 dogs and 1,500 cats and a few rhesus monkeys to boot -
        and there will still be the same six people cleaning the cages. Instead of theorizing why MCHS is not
        expanding, wouldn’t it be lovely if people spent that time actually
        volunteering with them? (I would – if I
        weren’t hundreds of miles away.)

        I was going to say all of this, but I , too, am tired of
        connecting dots for people.

        Report comment

  • Stella62

    The shelter will not house more animals than it does now – roughly 25 dogs and 100 or so cats. Since it is run entirely by volunteers, that seems to be the tipping point in what they can handle, labor-wise.
    The city has to have a pound. The Humane Society volunteers have no legal right to enter a property to do welfare checks, nor take possession of an animal – both of which, unfortunately, are of great need in Austin. Originally, the pound handled everything within the city limits, the Humane Society handled everything elsewhere in the county (with assistance from the sheriff’s department as need be).
    Quite a few years ago, the Humane Society began taking the dogs from the pound when their “time was up”. This not only saves a life, but saves the city of Austin euthanasia and disposal fees.
    The majority of the animals at the Humane Society did their time at the pound first. Once an animal is taken from the pound, they are vet-checked, given all shots, spayed/neutered, etc. All of this comes from donations and adoption fees (which do not begin to recoup the money invested in each animal).
    In addition to the lack of legal standing, there is no way the volunteer base could manage the transportation, retrieval of loose/menacing dogs, pickup of road-kill animals, etc.
    The work they do now, with such a small group and such a run-down facility, is nothing short of miraculous. And no, I am not a volunteer, but I have adopted from them.

    Report comment

    • rhodges37

      Judging by what ktlspr posted below…..”The City of Albert Lea Animal Shelter is operated by the Freeborn County
      Humane Society through an agreement with the City of Albert Lea” …..It looks like you are wrong about the Humane Society being able to do the job of the city pound. Lots of confusion about this.

      Report comment

      • jmdaniel

        For goodness sakes… “through an agreement”. Let me localize that phrase, for people that still don’t get it, despite the explanations given here:

        The kill and cut at Hormel in Austin, MN is operated by QPP, through an agreement with Hormel Foods.

        Do you get it now? Hormel could run the kill and cut, and in fact, did. For reasons irrelevant to my point here, they chose to move that work to QPP, through an agreement. Albert Lea has a civic duty to its citizens to have a function that captures, houses, euthanizes, and disposes of stray and lost animals. They have chosen, through an agreement, to have FCHS take care of that. Austin has not made that choice.

        Hard to see why this is so hard for some to understand.

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    • jmdaniel

      Nice explanation, Stella.

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  • Stella62

    The shelter will not house more animals than it does now – roughly 25 dogs and 100 or so cats. Since it is run entirely by volunteers, that seems to be the tipping point in what they can handle, labor-wise.
    The city has to have a pound. The Humane Society volunteers have no legal right to enter a property to do welfare checks, nor take possession of an animal – both of which, unfortunately, are of great need in Austin. Originally, the pound handled everything within the city limits, the Humane Society handled everything elsewhere in the county (with assistance from the sheriff’s department as need be).
    Quite a few years ago, the Humane Society began taking the dogs from the pound when their “time was up”. This not only saves a life, but saves the city of Austin euthanasia and disposal fees.
    The majority of the animals at the Humane Society did their time at the pound first. Once an animal is taken from the pound, they are vet-checked, given all shots, spayed/neutered, etc. All of this comes from donations and adoption fees (which do not begin to recoup the money invested in each animal).
    In addition to the lack of legal standing, there is no way the volunteer base could manage the transportation, retrieval of loose/menacing dogs, pickup of road-kill animals, etc.
    The work they do now, with such a small group and such a run-down facility, is nothing short of miraculous. And no, I am not a volunteer, but I have adopted from them.

    Report comment

  • Stella62

    The shelter will not house more animals than it does now – roughly 25 dogs and 100 or so cats. Since it is run entirely by volunteers, that seems to be the tipping point in what they can handle, labor-wise.
    The city has to have a pound. The Humane Society volunteers have no legal right to enter a property to do welfare checks, nor take possession of an animal – both of which, unfortunately, are of great need in Austin. Originally, the pound handled everything within the city limits, the Humane Society handled everything elsewhere in the county (with assistance from the sheriff’s department as need be).
    Quite a few years ago, the Humane Society began taking the dogs from the pound when their “time was up”. This not only saves a life, but saves the city of Austin euthanasia and disposal fees.
    The majority of the animals at the Humane Society did their time at the pound first. Once an animal is taken from the pound, they are vet-checked, given all shots, spayed/neutered, etc. All of this comes from donations and adoption fees (which do not begin to recoup the money invested in each animal).
    In addition to the lack of legal standing, there is no way the volunteer base could manage the transportation, retrieval of loose/menacing dogs, pickup of road-kill animals, etc.
    The work they do now, with such a small group and such a run-down facility, is nothing short of miraculous. And no, I am not a volunteer, but I have adopted from them.

    Report comment

  • Stella62

    The shelter will not house more animals than it does now – roughly 25 dogs and 100 or so cats. Since it is run entirely by volunteers, that seems to be the tipping point in what they can handle, labor-wise.
    The city has to have a pound. The Humane Society volunteers have no legal right to enter a property to do welfare checks, nor take possession of an animal – both of which, unfortunately, are of great need in Austin. Originally, the pound handled everything within the city limits, the Humane Society handled everything elsewhere in the county (with assistance from the sheriff’s department as need be).
    Quite a few years ago, the Humane Society began taking the dogs from the pound when their “time was up”. This not only saves a life, but saves the city of Austin euthanasia and disposal fees.
    The majority of the animals at the Humane Society did their time at the pound first. Once an animal is taken from the pound, they are vet-checked, given all shots, spayed/neutered, etc. All of this comes from donations and adoption fees (which do not begin to recoup the money invested in each animal).
    In addition to the lack of legal standing, there is no way the volunteer base could manage the transportation, retrieval of loose/menacing dogs, pickup of road-kill animals, etc.
    The work they do now, with such a small group and such a run-down facility, is nothing short of miraculous. And no, I am not a volunteer, but I have adopted from them.

    Report comment

  • Stella62

    The shelter will not house more animals than it does now – roughly 25 dogs and 100 or so cats. Since it is run entirely by volunteers, that seems to be the tipping point in what they can handle, labor-wise.
    The city has to have a pound. The Humane Society volunteers have no legal right to enter a property to do welfare checks, nor take possession of an animal – both of which, unfortunately, are of great need in Austin. Originally, the pound handled everything within the city limits, the Humane Society handled everything elsewhere in the county (with assistance from the sheriff’s department as need be).
    Quite a few years ago, the Humane Society began taking the dogs from the pound when their “time was up”. This not only saves a life, but saves the city of Austin euthanasia and disposal fees.
    The majority of the animals at the Humane Society did their time at the pound first. Once an animal is taken from the pound, they are vet-checked, given all shots, spayed/neutered, etc. All of this comes from donations and adoption fees (which do not begin to recoup the money invested in each animal).
    In addition to the lack of legal standing, there is no way the volunteer base could manage the transportation, retrieval of loose/menacing dogs, pickup of road-kill animals, etc.
    The work they do now, with such a small group and such a run-down facility, is nothing short of miraculous. And no, I am not a volunteer, but I have adopted from them.

    Report comment

  • WalterJonas

    ktlsppr – Do you think the Freeborn County Humane Society
    operates the City of Albert Lea animal shelter for FREE? Obviously not, rather
    it’s a taxpayer expense that involves paying the FCHS a fee to perform this
    function . While this “outsourcing” arrangement is becoming a more
    common theme for municipalities, it is not something that is imminent here as
    of yet. If or when it does, you will complain about the magnitude of tax
    money that agreement consumes. I think the entire city of Austin and
    County of Mower owe an awful lot to the Mower Humane Society volunteers – they
    have worked their butts off for years for no compensation of any kind, but
    instead they get plenty of abuse and criticism.

    Report comment

    • jmdaniel

      Exactly, Walter. You may have better luck convincing a stump of that, however; I don’t think ktlsppr has his thinking cap on…

      Report comment

  • Gbugsflowers

    YES they NEED a new Humane Society. One thing that is confusing like someone else said, is the capacity of the new one versus the old one. Why would you build a new shelter and not be able to hold more animals when you know the old facility most of the time is over capacity? I have been in the city pound and I feel sorry for ANY animal that has to stay in that dilapidated, dark dingy building! That should have been demolished years ago! Thank you to jmdaniel for making the comment about if people would take care of their animals instead of thinking they are disposable we wouldn’t NEED a city pound!! I haven’t ever seen so many animals running loose and strays in a town of this size in my life. The laws need to get a lot stricter with the animal issues here. I recently took in a stray that was wandering around late at night crying. I went in search of it and it was malnourished and had no where to call home. I took her in, and after a couple weeks made an appt. to get her spayed. That’s when it was confirmed that she was pregnant! I left her have the babies and was fortunate enough to find wonderful homes for 5 kittens! She is now spayed and has a wonderful home. Now there is ANOTHER cat hanging around here that is in the same condition. Now she will have to go to the humane society. Please don’t take animals if you are NOT going to take care of them!

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