Will 2025 be the Year of the Animal Shelter?

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Construction of the new animal shelter for Uxbridge and Scugog could start as early as this year, according to Uxbridge township clerk Debbie Leroux.

Leroux said the preliminary concept plan is completed and the newly hired architect is putting together a budget for the project. She said she hopes to make a presentation to the steering committee "in a few weeks." She said shovels could be in the ground sometime in 2025, depending on budget approval.

"I'm very hopeful this will go," Leroux said. "It will be very exciting."

The architect was hired because the original plans for the shelter, which were drawn up years ago, belonged to the architect brought on at that time. When plans for construction of the shelter fell through, the township could no longer use those plans.

The concept of a new animal shelter, to replace the aging facility located on Reach Street in Port Perry, began in 2012. Since then, the volunteer New Animal Shelter for Uxbridge and Scugog (NASUS) committee has been raising funds for its construction. However, fundraising has been more or less on hold for some time, said Tara Baker, president of NASUS. She said NASUS still accepts any donations that are offered but will start actual fundraising once more "as soon as we know it's going ahead."

"We're going to be here until shovels are in the ground," she said. "We owe it to our contributors."

Leroux said there is currently a little more than $1.8 million in the animal shelter reserve fund, which includes just over $1 million donated to the shelter by Marlyn Ruth Rennie in her will and remaining money from NASUS contributions. Leroux said that amount does not include the interest calculation for 2024, the Township of Uxbridge development charges or the financial commitments from either Uxbridge or Scugog. She added that Uxbridge includes money annually in the Capital Budget for the new shelter. Uxbridge has also contributed the land for the site of the new shelter.

Leroux said some of the money raised by NASUS has been spent over the years to cover costs.

Cindy Samulski, a volunteer with Team Chelsea, a social media-based volunteer organization that helps to find lost pets and return them to their owners, said the new shelter is urgently needed because shelters and rescue facilities are turning animals away because they are too full.

"It's never been like this," Samulski told the Cosmos.

She said a lot of dogs which were adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic are being "dumped" by people who no longer have the time to look after them. Samulski said the group is looking for volunteers to foster cats and dogs.

Leroux also said COVID-19 played a part in boosting the number of intakes at the animal shelter. She said occupancy at the shelter has been "up and down" and there has been a spike in the number of dogs taken in.

The animal shelter steering committee consists of Uxbridge CAO Kristi Honey, regional councillor Bruce Garrod, Leroux, and Scugog's Mayor Wilma Wotten, CAO Warren Mar and director of development services Kevin Heritage.