Lubbock Left

What happened to Lubbock’s plans to build a new animal shelter?

Lubbock’s current animal shelter (pound, really) is not meeting the city’s needs and is actually a health hazard to any animal that enters the place. The walls are made of porous material filled with every kind of dog and cat disease out there. The ventilation is poor. The cages are overcrowded. Approximately 1,000 pets are adopted from the facility each year, and the Humane Society of West Texas finds homes for approximately 1,000 more through their pet adoptions every Saturday at PetSmart. Approximately 64,000 animals are put down each year in the current facility. That ratio is appalling.

I know there are folks on the City Council working to get the animal shelter project going. Unfortunately, there are those on the Council throwing wrenches in the gears too. The City had plans for a $6.5 million modern animal shelter in McAlister Park (Brownfield Hwy & Milwaukee, a great location for an animal shelter) ready to go, but they were scrapped. At one time, an argument was made that city services would have to be extended to the location, but that proved to be bogus. Later, a proposal for a $3.2 million shelter in the Heart of Lubbock neighborhood was advanced, but the citizens of that neighborhood opposed it. They had every right to oppose it, and I believe that the Milwaukee location is much better anyway.

I have my suspicions that, as is often the case in Lubbock, some developer or another was really driving the bus on this decision and steered the animal shelter away from the Milwaukee area.

Regardless of this project’s long and difficult history, we must not let it fall by the wayside. Getting a bond issue for a new animal shelter on the November ballot is the best way to show the Council that the citizens of Lubbock are serious about this.

If you want to get involved in advocating for a new animal shelter, there will be an organizing meeting at the Groves Branch Library (5520 19th Street) on Thursday, February 26 at 7:30pm. A petition to get a bond issue for a new animal shelter on the November election will be available to sign at the meeting.