The Galveston Island Humane Society currently operates in a 2,600 square foot facility that was originally an appliance store. The original design of the structure has serious limitations and space constraints. Although modifications were made to make the building appropriate for animal care, twenty-five years of hard use with an expanding in-house animal population have caused the building to deteriorate beyond further repair.

The new facility will be over 7,200 square feet and will be specifically designed to facilitate the care and adoption of the animals in a safe, healthy and humane environment. Incoming, newly surrendered and other animals needing medical care will be segregated from animals available for adoption.

Click the photo above to enlarge the rendering of the proposed new facility.

Purchase Foundation Stones/Leaves

The goal is to provide a healthier, cleaner environment that minimizes the spread of disease throughout the shelter. We also hope to create a brighter, friendlier atmosphere for pets available for adoption. An outside play area has been included which will provide a fenced, park-like setting for the animals to have regular exercise and playtime. Most importantly, at long last, we will have a Humane Education Room that enables us to have presentations and lectures for school children and the general public on pet related issues, while also providing training and meeting space for staff, volunteers, committees and boards.

The new shelter will be comprised of two connecting buildings. This new configuration will create a physical barrier between quarantined, sick or newly surrendered animals and those animals that are ready for adoption. The new building layout will reduce the risk of communicating diseases between healthy and sick animals which is a common problem in animal shelter facilities.

The front portion of the building will have an enlarged Reception Area with an adoption friendly atmosphere. The offices will have state of the art equipment and medical care rooms will be secured from general public access, thereby keeping these rooms cleaner and healthier for the animals. The animal Living Quarters will be expanded and there will be a plexiglass barrier between the animal cages/runs and the general public. This is designed to prevent people from carrying germs and disease from animal to animal as they move from cage to cage searching for a potential pet to adopt. It will also prevent any unsupervised contact between the animals and the general public. The new facility will have Pet Socialization Rooms where prospective adopters can have quality interaction with a prospective adoptee pet under the supervision of a trained shelter employee. We believe this will lead to better adoption and fewer returned pets.

In order to help each pet “put their best paw forward” we have included a Grooming Room in the new facility . Having a designated area for bathing and grooming will allow us to improve the appearance of our resident pets which we hope will lead to more adoptions.

A Humane Education Room will enable visits of local school children for presentations as well as provide much needed meeting space for staff training, board meetings, community presentations and other valuable community outreach. We believe that to break the cycle of unwanted, breeding pets roaming the streets of our community we must teach, early on, the responsibilities involved with pet ownership. We hope that if young children are taught the responsibilities, as well as the joys, of owning a pet companion, that they will grow up to be better, more informed adult pet owners. Having a Humane Education room will enable us to offer specific programs appropriate for school children that will teach them how to care for a family pet as well as emphasize the importance of neutering that family pet. Our current shelter has no Education/Meeting room and we look forward to fully utilizing the one planned for the new building.

The rear building will function as a Medical Wing and there will be a receiving area for animal surrenders and acceptance of animals from Animal Control for the City of Galveston. Segregating these animals and placing them into temporary quarantine will keep potentially sick animals from infecting the healthy animals available to the general public for adoption. Medical facilities in the rear building will create a quieter environment for those animals needing special care or recovery time from medical procedures. In the future, we hope to perform spay and neuter surgery in house.

The front and rear sections of the building will be connected via a breezeway, accessible only by shelter personnel.

The Adult Cat Room ( Cat House Suite ) will have kitty “condominiums” ( Cat Condos ) with natural sky lights that will house multiple cats. Animals that are deemed to have suitable personalities will be placed in these areas to encourage play and interaction, thereby reducing the stress of living in a shelter environment. All cages will be behind plexi-glass which allows visitors to view the cats while reducing the spread of disease by limiting direct contact/touching. The general public will be able to visit with specific cats in the pet socialization room that will be located adjacent to the living quarter area. Our goal is to have healthier, happier cats in an attractive environment that will encourage more adult cat adoptions.

The Puppy and Kitten rooms ( Puppy Palace and Kitten Nursery ) will also provide viewing behind plexi-glass barriers. These areas will feature feeding and care islands that will assist the staff in providing for their special diets and cleaning needs. Transom windows at the top of one wall will allow for added natural light and the rooms will be heavily insulated to reduce noise to young animals.

The Adult Dog areas ( Doggie Condo Runs ) will provide housing that has both inside and outside areas. The inside area will be climate controlled and there will be a barrier door to the outside run area. Being able to move the dogs from one end of their run to the other enables more efficient daily cage cleaning. Additionally, the staff will easily be able to move a dog into a socialization room for a visit with a potential adopter in a quieter situation. The outside run area provides fresh air and gives the dogs the opportunity to see and verbally interact with the other dogs while keeping them physically separated. The outside portion of the run will also give the staff easy access to move the dogs into a fenced area for exercise and play.

The Outdoor Pet Playground will provide a much needed outside play and exercise area for dogs living at the shelter. Lengthy, isolated cage time can lead to depressed and frustrated dogs. Experience has shown that interactive play/exercise on a regular basis is essential to the well being of shelter dogs. The new playground will enable staff to get each dog out of their cage area on a regular basis which improves their temperament and overall health. Happy, sociable dogs are more likely to be adopted into new, loving homes.

We expect construction to begin before the second quarter of 2008 and will be completed in 6-8 months. Please see attached documents for elevations, floor plans, building rendering and cost estimates.

The Galveston Island Humane Society has been planning and saving for this project for over eight years. In 2006 we purchased from the City of Galveston the property on which the existing shelter stands plus additional land behind the current building, giving us approximately one acre of land to construct the new animal shelter. We expect to build the new structure behind the existing building, which will eventually be demolished to provide parking space.

One of the primary fund raising events for the Capital Campaign has been the Paws Gala which raises an average of $35,000 - $40,000 (net) per year. This event was specifically created eight years ago to raise funds for a building campaign. We hope that you will consider attending the Paws Gala, always held in September, which contributes greatly to the Capital Campaign Fund.

In 2006 the Capital Campaign Committee launched the Tree of Life campaign. The Tree of Life Campaign is a community based fund raising project intended for individuals to purchase a Leaf for $100 or a Foundation Stone for $500 to “Grow the Shelter Tree”. We created a special brochure for this campaign which also outlines additional opportunities for patrons desiring to give larger gifts. These brochures were mailed to all members and donors of the Galveston Island Humane Society and brochure racks have been placed in many local businesses in an effort to have island-wide community awareness of the Capital Campaign. When the new shelter is built, our “Tree” will be erected on a prominent wall in the reception area which we hope will reinforce to everyone in the community that their personal financial help was vital to building a new animal shelter for Galveston Island.