An empty county-owned lot in Cornelia holds the promise of a new beginning for unwanted animals across Habersham County, and a renewed sense of hope for the people who care for them.
One of Habersham’s most anticipated SPLOST projects, a new animal shelter, is in the works. The county is in the process of finding a qualified architect with experience in building animal shelters to start the project. After they find that architect, they will begin putting together a design for the building, and then will put out construction for bid. The county is hopeful that they could break ground on the new shelter within the year. It will be located on the site of an old county landfill.
Habersham County Animal Care and Control (HCACC) is hoping the new facility will include adequate kennel facilities for dogs and cats, quarantine facilities for sick, pregnant or nursing and aggressive animals, improved ventilation, a paddock area for lost livestock, an adoption area, a conference room for education, volunteer orientation and meetings, as well as video monitoring for the shelter.
RELATED: Animal control, the sheriff’s department, and battling the “Cow Problem”
One thing they’re hoping to get at the new shelter is something that will provide a much-needed service to the community and save animals’ lives: an on-site surgical wing.
“One of the key points that we are hoping for with the construction of the new animal shelter is having the ability to have a small surgery area,” Habersham County Animal Care and Control Director Madi Nix says. “We would be able to not only do in-house spay-neuter for adoptable animals but also have the opportunity to provide these services to the public for a low cost.”
Many pet owners in Habersham struggle with financial hardship that makes veterinary care, namely spaying and neutering, inaccessible. Through partnerships with state nonprofits and veterinarians, HCACC has been able to offer options to the community to help provide those services, but moving those procedures in-house would make them more affordable.
MORE: Adopt-A-Pet success stories
Nix says in-house spaying and neutering would lower the population of unwanted, surrendered, feral and homeless animals in Habersham. She also expects the new facility will help lower the number of adoptable pets the county houses.
The current shelter, located off of GA 17 behind the Habersham County Fairgrounds in Clarkesville, was built in 1998. While the staff does a commendable job of caring for the animals they house – it’s a county kill shelter with a current no-kill rate – the facility is ill-suited in size and layout to efficiently handle the number of animals and people who pass through its doors. The primary reason the euthanization rate in Habersham is so low is that Nix and her staff work overtime coordinating with other shelters and rescues both in Georgia and out to find homes for the animals.
For years, local community members have complained about the cramped, noisy, smelly space that is the current shelter, and grand juries have called for improvements. Nix expects a larger, more inviting space to attract more locals to the shelter, increasing pet fosters and adoptions and decreasing the need to ship out so many animals.
Nix shared her excitement about the new facility with Now Habersham shortly after voters approved the new shelter in a SPLOST vote in 2020.
“I think it would increase adoption rates, I think it would increase our volunteer base, and I think it would increase overall positive foot traffic in there [the shelter],” Nix says. She thinks that the improved shelter will also help the community engage with the animals, too.
“Some of the places that have nicer facilities are able to host summer camp programs for the community, they’re able to have school programs there,” Nix says. “Even though we do have some Boy Scout troops, and Tallulah Falls [School] that like to come help us out, we really don’t have the ability to house the kids, keep them entertained or really have a safe space for them to interact with the animals.”
Nix says that even with all the upgrades the shelter needs to better serve the county, the most important part of this new shelter is giving the community a place to connect with HCACC’s programs and meet their next fur-ever friend in a facility they feel comfortable in.
“My main goal in this new facility is to create somewhere that the citizens of Habersham want to engage with,” Nix says. “We want to be a positive impact on animal care in Habersham County, and with all our community has done for us over the years, the support, the encouragement, we want to be able to finally give back.”
