Humane society planning new building

BROOKINGS — With the city of Brookings having well outgrown the humane society of years past, the Brookings Regional Humane Society is looking to build a bigger and better facility east of Interstate 29 in the next few years.

And a recent gift from the city council will go a long way toward making that happen.

According to Brookings Regional Humane Society Executive Director Maia Moore, though the new building is still a few years off, a bigger facility is needed for a growing community.

“Even before a formal plan, we started doing all the research,” Moore said. “We did feasibility studies and we looked to see if it was something where we could renovate where we’re at, or if we really needed to build bigger. And, you know, just looking at nationwide trends and how fast Brookings is growing —It’s not like, one busy year and we’re like, we need a new shelter.”

Specifically, the current space the BRHS rents on the airport road only has space for nine dogs at any given time. That space is woefully inadequate and leaves the humane society very reliant on foster homes on a consistent basis.

In addition, the current space does not allow the humane society to be flexible with incoming groups of animals or quarantine for even innocuous things like kennel cough.

“In addition to size, a lot of it is just functionality as well,” Moore said. “At our current building we rent, and it just wasn’t built to house the animals long term,” she said. “So we don’t currently have any space to separate if we have a dog that’s sick. We don’t have dedicated surgical recovery spaces. We don’t have a way to separate new arrivals from ill animals, things like that. So just a more specialized space, and yes, larger.”

And it isn’t just the sheer number of animals the humane society deals with — which has grown to around 600 per year. The need to intake a large number of animals arriving at one time has increased as the city has grown, leaving the shelter scrambling for supplies and space all at once.

“That’s always a challenge, and it’s hard to feel like you’re prepared,” Moore said of some of the swings.

“How much food should we order this week, right? I don’t know. Are we going to get zero or are we going to get 47 — it’s hard to say. So we always try to be, you know, marginally prepared, but ust being able to have some flexibility in our space, as well, will be such an improvement.

The process for the new building got a kick start last week when the Brookings City Council voted unanimously to gift the non-profit 2.5 acres of land on the east side of the interstate, near Counterpart on Prince Drive.

Moore said though the project had been in the idea stage for about three years, the BRHS doesn’t plan on moving into the new building for approximately five years.

“We’re so excited, but we’re just getting started. It’s going to be — unless big donors pop up out of the woodwork, we’re looking at around five years,” she said. “But this is a really great, really huge first step, just knowing where we’re going to be building. So we’re super excited about that.”

BRHS will now begin raising money— they have hired a firm, BWF, who has worked with the SDSU Foundation among other local groups on non-profit capital campaigns.

Moore expressed gratitude for the city council’s gifting of the land and excitement for the upcoming capital campaign, but also stressed that business as usual was going to continue at the current humane society for the time being.

“We’re still going to be in this current building for a while, and we’re still always looking for volunteers, foster homes — I think currently, we’ve got about 17 dogs with nine kennels,” Moore said. “If people are interested in information on the capital campaign, they can certainly reach out. But otherwise, we’re still also just business as normal. We still need bleach and kitty litter.”

Anyone wishing to volunteer or donate to the Brookings Regional Humane Society is encouraged to email BSDHumane@gmail.com

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@@gmail.com