The grand opening of Riverside County’s San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus was last Saturday, and though the $18 million shelter was completed in 2010, the county’s financial travails delayed its opening until this  past weekend.

The 10-acre property has multiple buildings, including kennel structures with more than 140 kennel runs equipped with the ability to provide ambient heating, giving dogs some extra warmth during the winter months. The shelter also can care for more than 100 cats and features a livestock area.

One important element to the shelter is a modern heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system pumping in fresh air in multiple cycles every hour to improve the animals’ comfort.

The shelter also has a large spay and neuter clinic, open from 8 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.  This clinic has been open for several weeks. The waiting line for free surgery approaches 4,000 requests, according to John Welsh, Riverisde County Department of Animal Services public information officer.

Shelter spay and neuter appointments may be made  online at 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 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, at 581 S. Grand Ave. in San Jacinto.

At the bottom of this link is a map: www.rcdas.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=35.

The facility has 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 lower county costs.

Riverside County will also have Code Enforcement offices housed in the facility, too.