A New Place for Pets
The Southwest Missouri Humane Society’s new digs will be a retreat for weathered paws. Read on for how you can volunteer, or even adopt a furry friend for your own.
The new Southwest Missouri Humane Society building has been in the works for the past five years. Construction on the building is in the final stretch, and the Humane Society hopes to open its doors to the larger, technologically innovative building by early November.
The new building encompasses more than 14,000 square feet, which can hold up to 200 dogs and cats. “We cannot wait to bulldoze down the old facility,” says Randy Voss, owner of Voss Autohaus and president of the Humane Society board of directors. The new facility contains a few much-needed upgrades that the old building—originally built in 1949—didn’t have. The main element of the building is the enormous lobby, which Voss hopes will be used to host several events and educational programs. To keep the animals safe, a separated quarantine area holds dogs and cats that have contracted diseases. The quarantine area even has a separate ventilation system to keep air-borne diseases from traveling. A fully equipped surgery room ensures that all cats and dogs get spayed or neutered, then have time to rest in recovery rooms before being released into the general population.
Perhaps the facility’s most unique feature is the heated flooring system, which helps prevent illness among dogs and keeps them from sliding across the floors. Six-feet-tall stainless-teel kennels house the dogs, with a revolutionary septic system that allows waste to be simply rinsed down a drain (saving the staff numerous hours cleaning individual stalls). “The inside joke is that none of the animals will want to leave,” says Voss.
In the backyard area is a memorial park with trees, benches and sidewalks. Owners can even purchase a commemorative brick to place in memory of beloved pets.
The new Humane Society has a ton of great perks, but the road to a newer, more-efficient facility hasn’t been easy. The $3.2 million project has required extensive fundraising; the Humane Society relies solely on outside donations. In August, the Society still needed to raise $500,000 to reach their goal. “The Humane Society is working hard to build even though we’re operating at deficit levels,” says Voss.
