The grand opening of Riverside County’s San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus will be Saturday, Oct. 26.
The $18 million shelter was completed in 2010, but the county’s financial travails delayed its opening until this week.
The celebration will include a free, hotdog lunch for the first 500 guests. For the day, all shelter dog adoptions will be $20. These adoptees will have all of their vaccinations and a microchip. Existing pets may receive a free rabies vaccination.
Face painting and a dog-agility demonstration are also on tap.
The 10-acre property has multiple buildings, including kennel structures with more than 140 kennel runs equipped with the ability to provide ambient heating, which provides some extra warmth during the winter months for the dogs. The shelter also can care for more than 100 cats. The shelter also features a livestock area.
One important element to the shelter is a modern heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system that pumping in fresh air in multiple cycles every hour improving the animals’ comfort.
The shelter also has a large spay and neuter clinic, which will be open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. This clinic has been open for several weeks. Currently the waiting line for free surgery approaches 4,000 requests, according to John Welsh, the Department public information officer.
Shelter spay & neuter appointments can be made via this link: www.rcdas.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=287&catid=26&Itemid=69.
The shelter will be open to the public Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shelter is located at 581 S. Grand Ave. in the city of San Jacinto.
This link, below, has a map on the bottom of the Web page:
www.rcdas.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=35.
Fully operating the facility will have a 14 person staff and annual operating costs of about $1 million. Over time, the Department of Animal Services plans to develop partnership agreements with mid-county cities to utilize the facility and lower the County’s costs.
Riverside County will also has Code Enforcement offices housed in the facility, too.
