By Jill Sperling

A look inside the BC SPCA’s brand new Kamloops Community Animal Care Centre

Mar 26, 2019 | 4:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — The brand new, $6.5 million dollar SPCA Animal Care Centre will open to the public April 6.

The finishing touches are going into the facility, and SPCA staff members are preparing to move into the new structure.

“They’re really ready to be in a building that suits the needs and fits the capacity that’s needed to serve the health of the animals coming in,” said Hayley Bennett Ortner, Community Engagement Manager with the Kamloops and District BC SPCA. “We’re all feeling a little bit frayed at the moment, things are pretty crazy right now.”

For many years the Kamloops BC SPCA has cared for animals at a much smaller facility on 8th Street, a building that hadn’t been constructed for that purpose. 

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 “We’re actually standing in, I would say, one of the biggest changes or additions right now,” Bennett Ortner said. “This is the Community Room. One of the reasons we’re really really happy to have this big space now, which we just don’t have at our current shelter, is we’re really looking to expand on our community programs, youth programming, humane education, lectures and community involvement in the programs we’re doing and this will really allow us to do so.” 

The Community Room will also be available for birthday parties, meetings and other events. 

The rest of the Animal Care Centre has been built specifically with the animals’ well-being in mind. 

“We have specific kennels, double and single, for dogs, we’ve got cat enclosures and condos and rooms with outdoor enclosure so the cats can actually spend time outside in the fresh air,” Bennett Ortner said. “Dogs will have outdoor enclosures and be able to spend as much time out there as they want as well.” 

The facility will also be linked to a spay and neuter clinic, which contains exam rooms and operating tables.

The Kamloops SPCA is still around $280,000 shy of its fundraising goal for the building, but the donations have been pouring in ahead of the centre’s grand opening.

“Everything will still come about, but we are still encouraging people that if they are interested in making a gift of any size it will make a difference and we appreciate it greatly.”