Foothills Animal Shelter celebrates with weekend events

The first clients at Foothills Animal Center in the adoption lobby area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY – The Foothills Animal Shelter will celebrate its conversion from the Table Mountain Animal Center and move into a state-of-the-art animal center with two events Saturday at its new location Saturday.

The new facility, on the northwestern corner of the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, opened its doors to the public earlier this month after nearly 34 years at the aging Table Mountain facility, which was built nearly 34 years ago as a traditional dog pound.

“After a successful move into the brand new facility with a brand new name, Foothills Animal Shelter looks forward to an official day filled of grand opening celebrations! Two very special events are planned for Saturday,” said Jennifer Strickland, Director of Community Relations for the new shelter.

Two grand opening events are on tap Saturday, a daytime event for the general public and a VIP Event that evening.

The first event will offer interactive public tours of the Foothills Center. Live music, face painting, food, giveaways and a raffle.

The evening event, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. will be at The Mathews Collection, a private car collection and event center at 5889 Lamar St., Arvada. The cost is $150 and guests get food and entertainment and can participate in silent and live auctions featuring original art, luxury vacations and other items.

The new facility – at 30,000 square feet – is twice the size of the Table Mountain Center.

The expanded space allows the center to provide improved living quarters for stray, abandoned and surrendered animals as well as more comfortable and animal-friendly viewing and adoption areas as well as improved areas for volunteer training programs and public education.

The difference between the two shelters already apparent in the animals, which are adapting well to the larger enclosures, many of which have three levels instead of the flat cages of the former shelter. The enclosures also provide a private area where the animals can escape the almost constant daytime that bustles around them.

Dogs have an area of their own and the smaller canines have a special corner called “Tiny Town” where the lap-size dogs and puppies can lounge away from larger, more imposing dogs.

The cat area houses groups of cats – such as those confiscated from “hoarders” or felines from the same former home – in large “colony areas” until they are adopted. The cat area also has two- and three-cat enclosures as well as single, two-level enclosures with out-of-sight private areas for lone cats not yet ready to join the larger groups in more spacious group areas.

It also includes a 2,000 square-foot surgery clinic with a spay and neuter clinic. The clinic also will implant microchips that help ensure a pet’s safe return home.

“It’s not a full-service vet clinic,” Strickland said. “We will be more efficient at providing the low-cost services that we have been providing” including dog licenses.

The center also has six outside exercise runs for the dogs, a separate intake entrance, an adoption lobby and spacious areas where humans and critters can get to know each other.

And then there’s the “Critter Corner” for the miscellaneous pets such as rabbits, gerbils, hamsters and iguanas.

The old facility housed as many as 10,000 animals a year, and about 1,200 of those are less traditional pets, those Strickland calls “the other guys.” They also are up for adoption, Strickland said, urging would-be pet owners to consider them, as well.

The aging Table Mountain enter, the second largest animal shelter in the metro area, outlived its design years ago and, in its last years, failed to meet the state’s standards for animal care centers.

The new shelter is designed to meet the physical and psychological needs of the animals it serves, said Heather Cameron, Chief Executive Officer of the new center.

The ventilation system replenishes the air 14 to 22 times an hour. The window-filled space enlarges the animals’ world and comfortable raised sleeping beds made by a volunteer keep them comfortable. Soundproofing keeps cats from hearing the dogs and vice-versa. Some enclosures have separate temperature controls, allowing reptiles to be kept warm while the gerbils in the adjacent area can be cooler.

“All of this building has intention to it, every piece of it and every piece of equipment we have,” Cameron said. “This is built for the animals and it’s built for the community to come and find their animals, adopt their animals and to help the community get basic health care for their animals.”

After years of examining TMAC’s needs and shortcomings as well as the cost of replacing it, Jefferson County Commissioners in 2009 announced a plan to pay for the $9.7 million project.

The county is providing $3 million for the project and is leasing the Fairgrounds site to the shelter for $1 a year. The county’s cities and towns, which take confiscated and stray animals to the shelter, will forego their respective shares of countywide dog license fees, allowing that revenue to be used to retire $5.2 million in Certificates of Participation that will be issued and marketed by the county.

The dog licensing fees are expected to bring in $625,000 this year and, by 2011, are expected to increase to $732,000, according to Carla Zananti, Jefferson County’s Animal Control manager.

As part of the financing the Table Mountain Animal Center Foundation hopes to raise another $1.7 million for the project and an endowment fund for operation of the center.

For more information on the grand opening events, contact the center at (720) 407-5224.