Horn Lake accepts bid for new animal shelter

HORN LAKE, Miss. — The City of Horn Lake is one step closer to building a new animal shelter, replacing the present shelter built in 1991.

Glenn Andrews, the director of Animals Services of Horn Lake, points to just one of the reasons it’s time for a new Horn Lake Animal Shelter.

“This building was constructed in 1991 and it was not done with a group that was specific to building animal shelters,” Andrews said.

That will change with the construction of a new shelter on a piece of land on Center Street.

The Board of Alderman voted to accept the low bid of $4.6 million, although two Board members voted against it out of concern the price tag would likely go much higher and the money would be best spent elsewhere.

“I would imagine I could always sum it up by saying that they are just making sure that they are good stewards of the tax payer’s dollars and so they’re just trying to figure out which is the best way to spend this money so it has the best effect for the city,” Andrews said.

Andrews says taking inflation into account, the $4.6 million is in line with what a quality facility would cost in today’s dollars. There are about a hundred dogs and 47 cats here now, all needing a little more room to stretch their legs.

“I think it’s great. We have so many animals that need more room. Room’s the thing here,” shelter volunteer Linda Evans said.

Andrews points to a growing crisis of stray dogs and cats and says a new shelter would help address the problem.

“If I don’t have a working facility that’s able to accommodate all that we need to do, then we risk becoming a city that has a stray dog problem, of being overrun by litters of puppies and kittens. We do risk that,” Andrews said.

WREG is told construction on the new shelter could begin on the first of June.

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