CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CMPD Animal Care & Control is up against the clock to move out dogs as a new round of renovations begin.
Phase 3 starts Friday, Feb. 16, and the shelter is set to lose 46 kennels. Shelter staff say the best way to help is to become a foster to make room for the animals at an already overcrowding shelter.
Animal Care & Control is demolishing old kennels and building better ones.
David Shrewsbury, the community outreach coordinator at Animal Care & Control, showed WCNC Charlotte some of these state-of-the-art kennels that have already been installed in past phases.
"They’ve been welded up, they’re stainless steel," he said. "They’re a lot easier to clean and they’re safer for the animals. They’re safer for the people that are using them and they’re just they’re a better kennel overall."
The kennels being demolished Friday are housing dogs that are on a 72-hour legal stray hold. These dogs must be kept at the shelter and moved to a new area for the construction; this means making room by finding new homes for the animals who can leave the shelter.
"We’re talking about the animals that have already met that hold period," Shrewsbury said. "They’ve got maybe some health concerns, they’ve maybe got some age on them, they’re a little slow to move or they’re just adoptable dogs and they haven’t been adopted out yet and they’re available for fostering."
Shrewsbury said this next phase of renovation is expected to take about two to four months. It’s unknown how many more animals could come in to the shelter during that time.
But he said one’s thing’s for certain -- more are coming in than are going out.
"We’re already kind of behind the eight ball because of the previous construction and the amount of animals that are coming into our facility," Shrewsbury said. "It's much more than 10, I don't know what the exact number is right here, right now, but it’s much more than 10 and it’s gonna fluctuate every day."
"Foster By Friday" is the message the shelter has been trying to get out there for days now; the shelter really needs long-term fosters to hold dogs at least two to three weeks at a time.
If you can help, you can go to the CMPD Animal Care & Control official website or go in person to fill out an application.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.