Collier County animal shelter may add air conditioning

Collier County may install air conditioning in the dog kennels at its animal shelter after receiving complaints and requests for more than two years from volunteers who work in the kennels.

Mary Jones, a volunteer, takes Diesel, a Siberian husky, outside at Collier County Domestic Animal Services in Naples, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. The shelter is analyzing its options to get air conditioning into the kennels that don't have it.

County commissioners have set aside $500,000 in a proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year to upgrade the kennels run by the county's Domestic Animal Services department.

The county still needs to decide the best way to keep the dogs in its care cooler. Retrofitting some of the old kennels with air conditioning could prove costly because of their size, design and age. It could be more efficient to start from scratch and build a new kennel, said Darcy Andrade, director of Domestic Animal Services.

"We might be able to add air conditioning, and we might have to start over," Andrade said.

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Andrade will ask commissioners to hire an engineering or architectural firm to study the shelters and come up with a plan for the best way to keep temperatures down.

Animal Services has four kennels and typically houses around 100 dogs and 100 cats at a time. The department takes in nearly 3,000 dogs a year.

A fan sits in one of the kennels without air conditioning at Collier County Domestic Animal Services in Naples, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. The shelter is analyzing its options to get air conditioning into the kennels that don't have it.

Volunteers have been asking for air conditioning in all four of the kennels since a lightning strike took out the ventilation system to the main kennel in the summer of 2015.

Without the ventilation system, temperatures regularly climbed above 90 degrees. The ventilation system has since been fixed, and a temporary air conditioning unit has been added to the main kennel.

In the other kennels, where dogs are isolated because they are sick, aggressive or haven't had their shots yet, there is no air conditioning. 

The county uses a 2010 report from the Association of Shelter Veterinarians as its guideline for setting standards on the treatment and care of its animals. The report, written by more than a dozen shelter veterinarians from around the country, recommends that dogs are kept in rooms below 80 degrees.

Patty Teulet, a volunteer for the past six years, adjusts a dog's collar at Collier County Domestic Animal Services in Naples, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. The shelter is analyzing its options to get air conditioning into the kennels that don't have it.

Andrade said the county will meet that goal.

Meeting temperature standards is critical for a shelter, said Patrice Worcester, a member of the county's animal services advisory board and director of operations for Humane Society Naples.

"It's really important for the health and welfare of the animals to get up to those standards," Worcester said. "The county has put in fans, and they have always done a good job with what they have, but it does get unbearable in those shelters."

County commissioners will decide whether to approve the proposed budget on Sept. 7 and 21.