CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CMPD Animal Care and Control's (ACC) kennels are back up and running as normal after months of renovations.
The project, which started in late 2023, cut down the shelter's already maxed capacity by 30 to 50 kennels per phase. The final phase of work, impacting the adoption kennels, cleared inspection Monday morning and those last kennels promptly reopened, shelter officials said. Only four kennels in that section temporarily remain out of commission or under restricted use, unless further fixes can be completed.
An inside look at the new kennels show brand new doors, locks, and floors, among other changes, which are meant to bring the shelter up to code and make it safer for the animals and people handling them. The accessibility upgrades were mandatory, but shelter advocates said the work leaves a larger problem unaddressed: insufficient capacity.
The reopening comes a week after several shelter volunteers brought their concerns to city leaders during Charlotte City Council's public input hearing about the upcoming annual budget, which details some new allocations for the shelter.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget offers more than $600,000 for ACC to create 10 new positions. However, volunteers said it is not nearly enough to help.
"We simply don’t have the amount of kennels that a city our size should have," Kelsey Joseph, a board member of the nonprofit Friends of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Services, told WCNC Charlotte. "Animals are euthanized daily there because of it."
It has been roughly 30 years since the shelter's capacity was set. Data shows that, at the time, Charlotte's population was half the size.
The shelter’s director, Dr. Joshua Fisher, told WCNC Charlotte that designs have been created to expand the existing shelter. The city estimates the project would cost around $200 million.
Due to the cost, Fisher said the shelter is looking into the option of creating a second shelter. Once the concept designs are completed, officials will compare the two options. Fisher hopes to have a rough idea of the desired path forward by this fall.
Meantime, shelter staff said they are glad to have full use of the space again and are grateful for the community pitching in during a tough time, temporarily housing animals when capacity was cut down. With large influxes of animals continuing to pour in, they remind help is still needed.
"I like to say our foster program is like a superhero community," Taj Trotman, a front counter representative with the shelter, said. "They've helped out a lot. We could use more volunteers and fosters."
Dogs available for adoption or fostering can be found here.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.