In April, Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) opened our much-anticipated new Animal Community Center in Milpitas. We believe it will change the way you think about an animal shelter.
One-of-a-Kind Center
This 48,000-square-foot regional center is the first “green” animal center in the country to offer cage-less animal care and an adoption program with a full spectrum of pet and community services under one roof. Key programs and services include:
- A spay/neuter medical center;
- A dog park and training center;
- Doggie daycare, boarding and grooming;
- A veterinary hospital with a public viewing room;
- An education center;
- A community room;
- A pet store; and
- A pet-friendly café.
The animal habitats have been painted with colorful animal portraits donated by artists Ron Burns and Sonya Paz, and decorated to simulate home environments to help keep our shelter guests comfortable and enable real-world training opportunities with our animal behaviorists, staff, and volunteers. We’re also hoping they will greatly reduce an animal’s stress and behavioral issues created by traditional shelter designs that house animals in cages. Our goal is to facilitate up to 10,000 animal adoptions a year.
We want to make HSSV not only the best place to adopt a pet, but also the best place to learn about, engage with, and celebrate animals. By offering services and education programs that support families with pets, we hope to create and new paradigm for animal welfare organizations that will help break the cycle of pet abandonment and neglect.
We’re off to a great start with our new center, which offers a healthy, friendly, and comfortable environment for people and pets that we believe will help change the way people view animals, treat animals, and live with animals. I invite all Bay Area residents to visit our new center. Once they enter the building, they’ll realize it’s so much more than an animal shelter. That’s why we’re calling it an Animal Community Center.
Unique Approach
HSSV has selected A Dog’s Life to provide our doggie daycare, boarding, grooming and training services. Working with A Dog’s Life benefits the community by allowing HSSV to focus on what we do best: finding loving homes for pets, offering affordable medical services, and teaching humane education programs. “By collaborating with A Dog’s Life, we can provide a broader set of pet services to the community and fulfill our mission to save and enhance lives.
A Dog’s Life also shares our philosophies about how quality socialization, exercise, and modern training techniques enhance the human-animal bond. Their unique approach offers an exceptional service to clients and they bring a depth of expertise from their successful Palo Alto and Sunnyvale locations.
Sustainable Building
The new HSSV Center is also expected to be the first animal welfare agency in the United States to earn a coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Key features include:
- An extensive solar system that is expected to generate 40% of the center’s energy needs from renewable sources;
- A highly efficient kennel cleansing system to ensure proper disinfecting while reducing water use;
- A reflective “cool” roof to reduce solar heating & lower A/C usage;
- Heat recovery wheels in all HVAC systems to capture and reuse heating & cooling during the frequent air ventilation cycles required to prevent the spread of illness;
- On-site bioswales to naturally clean rainwater run-off before water enters the sewage treatment system; and
- Artificial turf in the dog park areas to lower the demand for irrigation water
Using sustainable materials and systems is not just good for the environment, it’s great for the bottom line, and the money HSSV saves in energy and operational costs can be spent on the animals. We truly believe our new Animal Community Center will be an inspiring model of humane care, community involvement, and green building design for shelters and nonprofits nationwide.
The HSSV Animal Community Center is located at 901 Ames Avenue in Milpitas. It occupies built on 4.8 acres of land near Milpitas Boulevard and Montague Expressway and is easily accessible to Highways 101 and 237 and Interstates 680 and 880. The $25 million project was funded through public donations. For more information, visit http://www.hssv.org/.
Laura Fulda is vice president of marketing and communications for Humane Society Silicon Valley. She has two adopted dogs, Bear a shepherd mix and Harriet, a golden retriever, as well as an assortment of cats, all adopted from HSSV. She can be reached at laura.fulda@hssv.org.
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