The Larimer Humane Society has placed thousands of animals in homes over the years.

Now it's looking for a new

 Home of its own

33-year-old structure 'woefully inadequate,' society president says

By Kate Martin

FORT COLLINS — The Larimer Humane Society has found forever homes for thousands of animals that have crossed its threshold in the past 33 years.

But as the building on Kyle Avenue in south Fort Collins literally falls apart around the staff, volunteers and the animals they house, Joseph Olsen said he soon hopes to find a forever home for the organization.

The group wants to build between Loveland and Fort Collins, the two largest cities that the Humane Society serves, said Olsen, president and CEO of the nonprofit agency.

On Thursday, he said the group is looking critically at a 25-acre parcel of land near the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport in northeast Loveland. The Humane Society is also looking at other property in the area, Olsen said.

Olsen was charged with finding the group a new building when he was hired in 2003.

The current building, on 4 acres in south Fort Collins, was built in 1974 on a patch of bentonite clay, which expands with moisture.

Walls separate from each other, the ceiling buckles, cracks cross the cement floor and the roof leaks in many spots.

In some places, Olsen can slide his hand under the wall to the outside of the building.

Heather Herrell, a development associate with the Larimer Humane Society, pushes towels against the baseboards to prevent outside air from getting into her office.

“In the winter I can set my lunch there and keep it chilled all day because it blows in,” she said. “I usually bring in blankets for my feet because it gets really cold.”

Aside from the structural problems, people and animals are packed in like sardines. Volunteers must use a work station that’s crammed into a storage area with dog food and spare animal crates.

During the busy season, cats and dogs are stacked in crates on top of each other with barely enough room to turn around.

“It’s woefully inadequate,” Olsen said of the building.

There is one surgery area for spay and neuter operations, but he wants to expand it so students from Colorado State University can help with the surgeries. But a new surgery area would take over a small office used by seven people, and he doesn’t know where he would put them.

Thursday afternoon, dozens of people streamed in looking for lost pets or hoping to adopt a new one.

Tom Benden of Loveland petted a domestic shorthair cat named Sylvester. Benden has been a supporter of the Larimer Humane Society for about 30 years.

He likes to give attention to the older, overweight cats that might not see many visitors. But while he doesn’t see much of the building beyond the cat room and the front area, he can tell the building is getting older.

“They’re not luxury accommodations by any means,” Benden said. “But they sure go out of the way to make sure an animal is taken care of.”

The new building’s plans are not on paper. They’re in Olsen’s head. The campus would be surrounded by nature trails and a buffer zone.

And while animal shelters traditionally have been noisy and smelly, Olsen said the construction would minimize odors and noises.

“It keeps the noise in, but it also keeps the noise out,” Olsen said.

The most expensive parts of the new building would be heating and air conditioning systems and the plumbing.

Separate air circulation systems would prevent the spread of disease. The current building only has one system, and it mixes air from the sick animals with air for healthy animals.

The new shelter also would feel more like home: Cats would congregate in the same area instead of lying in separate metal cages, and dogs would roam rooms with furniture.

Olsen also wants to qualify the new building for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. The LEED designation is reserved for buildings with high energy efficiency.

“Being green is also being humane,” Olsen said. “We will get as close to LEED certification as we possibly can.”

Olsen said he’s not sure if the land in Loveland would work. But he is determined to open new doors for the Humane Society by the end of 2010.

“I think that our community deserves it — needs it — and so do the animals,” he said.

Features: The largest independent wildlife rehabilitation center in Colorado, WildKind, serves about 3,200 wild animals per year.

Animals at the shelter: Dogs, cats, birds, iguanas, barnyard animals, hamsters, rabbits and other rodents.

Future building: 35,000 to 45,000 square feet, including 3,000 square feet for WildKind in a separate building.

Possible sites: Between Loveland and Fort Collins, from 15 to 40 acres in size.

Focus: 25-acre lot near the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport.