The year of Covid-19 wasn’t the best time for a not-for-profit to launch a capital campaign for a whole new building, with public gatherings for fundraising events off the table. But it only takes a quick look around the cramped Saugerties Animal Shelter to understand the urgency of the need for more expansive quarters for all these cute critters who await their forever homes. Though it has been operating as an animal shelter for four decades, since its founding by Marie Post, the existing building is simply inadequate to the task of housing all the abandoned pets from its service area of Saugerties, Woodstock and the Town of Ulster. The old concrete-block garage on the grounds of the Town of Saugerties Transfer Station was once used as an equipment shed.
“It is very obvious that the staff and volunteers do the best they can with what they have,” says a recent press release about the building campaign, and truer words have never been spoken. They’ve tried to spruce the place up with cheerful painted motifs on the exterior walls and to keep its temporary inhabitants as healthy and comfortable as possible. The comfort and convenience of staff have to take a back seat, however.
As one steps inside the “Cat Room-slash-office area,” as assistant manager Morgan Bach describes one of the two larger rooms, there’s a certain raffish charm to the imaginative way in which needful things have been crammed together. There’s a refrigerator tucked in between the desk and the file cabinets, on top of which sit a microwave and a coffeemaker. The banks of cat cages appear to have grown organically over time, section by section, to make more room for their winsome inhabitants to climb around and get a little exercise.
The dog room next door is similarly adapted for multitasking: Two walls are lined with a total of 13 kennels, each leading to a short exterior run that’s sheltered from the elements. But there’s also a laundry and utility sinks, a bathtub with shower hoses for washing the animals and even a food preparation area. The latter is especially problematic to have in the same room with the dogs, Bach notes, since they can see and smell what’s forthcoming: “We’ve had dogs before that, if they see their medication being prepped, they won’t take it.”
Several smaller rooms are used to house puppies, for storage, for quarantining animals with health issues and for “cuddle sessions.” There’s also a small fenced-in space outside the dog runs that’s used as a “meet-and-greet” area, which is especially important for adopters who already have dogs and need to gauge if they are compatible with a potential new four-legged family member. Next door is a tiny freestanding “boutique” where Shalan Newkirk sells pet supplies and a variety of donated items to raise funds to help keep the operation going. To give the dogs their daily exercise, volunteers walk them around the array of solar collectors around the landfill behind the Transfer Station.
It’s tough to describe the shelter as a sad or depressing place, when it’s populated by engaging furry friends who aren’t shy about making it known that they want to go home with you. It’s cramped and shabby and nothing quite matches, but it’s clear that a lot of love has gone into trying to make this difficult industrial space work and feel homey. Yet the shortcomings of the makeshift arrangement can’t be missed. The pitted concrete floors are impossible to disinfect properly, for instance. There’s not enough square footage for dogs and cats to be quarantined in separate rooms, nor a quiet space where visitors can sit with staff to fill out the adoption paperwork.
The location of the shelter building is also challenging. As it stands now, would-be adopters of pets have to pass through the same entry gateway as Transfer Station customers — which means that the shelter can’t offer any evening hours. The new building being envisioned would be erected on an adjacent wooded section of the town property, screened from the busy, noisy waste transfer area, with a separate entrance and driveway off Route 212. “We’re hoping to have a lot of dog-walking trails in the woods,” says Bach.
The two-story building design by architect Laura Cassart, viewable online at www.saugertiesanimalshelter.com/new_building.shtml, addresses all the interior space needs that are going unmet in the old structure. A separate entrance for intake leads to the quarantine area, which has cubicles for cats on one side of a dividing wall and dogs on the other. There are separate “pet wash” and grooming rooms, several enclosed offices, a roomy lobby with a view of a two-story “cat tree.” The kennels will be able to accommodate 20 dogs at once, adjacent to both interior and exterior dog runs of generous size. The plan even includes a secure space for injured wildlife to be dropped off to await the availability of a professional rehabilitator.
Bach is especially excited about the two Community Rooms included in the plan, intended for use on a rental basis for such events as kids’ birthday parties, as well as for dog training and for educational purposes. The shelter staff and Saugerties Animal Welfare Fund board hope to create an appealing nexus for the larger animal-loving community to congregate, while generating new income streams to keep the shelter thriving.
The total pricetag for the impressive new facility is $1,800,000, of which $1,100,000 have already been raised. Reaching the goal by the end of May, with groundbreaking in the fall of 2021, seems quite a challenge, considering that the usual fundraising events haven’t been able to happen over the past year. Still, a building with lots of separate rooms and features means plenty of naming opportunities for donors who’d like to leave a bricks-and-mortar legacy. Several rooms have already been spoken for, but most still need sponsors, at donation levels ranging from $1,250 for a “cat condo” to $75,000 for the lobby.
If those prices are out of your ballpark, you might consider sponsoring a bench for $500 or an engraved brick at the $100 or $200 level. Potential donors can learn more by contacting Saugerties Animal Welfare Fund president Adele Zinderman at (914) 466-0466 or bobzind@aol.com.
For daily updates about pets up for adoption, visit www.facebook.com/townofsaugertiesanimalshelter.
Join the family! 
