Adoption fees for dogs at Rochester's Verona Street animal shelter will be waived on Friday.
This is to prepare for some long-awaited renovations and upgrades that will temporarily close off part of the building starting next month.
The latest project involves installing new dog kennels.
"Our current kennels are over 25 years old, and you can just tell that they have lived their life, they have been well loved, and it is just time for something new," said Staci Popadoplos, the city's director of animal services.
Replacing them is also mandatory. The kennels must be updated to meet new state regulations that took effect in December.
That includes individual floor drains in each kennel to mitigate the spread of disease. To ease the dogs' stress, there will be solid panels between each kennel, and multiple exits, so the dogs don't have to pass each other or go through a busy common area to get outside.
There will also be three fewer kennels than the current 67. That's to create enough space to make each of them a few inches wider.
"The additional space doesn't seem like much to us, because it's only a few inches, but when you're a smaller animal, those few inches makes a big difference," Papadolplos said.
The project is among a series of upgrades to the 86-year-old building included in a $2.6 million capital investment. They have included lobby renovations, an upgraded security system, and new animal transport vehicles.
In recent years, animal welfare advocates and elected leaders, including Mayor Malik Evans, have stated the need for a new, and much larger 29,000 square foot animal shelter at an estimated cost of $44 million. City officials requested $40 million in state funding for the project, but that request was not fulfilled in this year’s legislative session which ended this month.
The kennel renovations are expected to begin July 6 and take six months to complete. During that time the shelter will have space for less than half the number of dogs it does now. To free up space, today is Free Dog Friday, with no adoption fees for approved adopters from Noon to 6 p.m.
On June 25, Rochester Animal Services will host an information session on at 6 p.m. at the Thomas P. Ryan R-Center at 530 Webster Ave. for members of the community who are interested in learning about fostering pets.
