The Los Banos Animal Shelter had its grand opening earlier this month, and on Sept. 9, the public was invited to view its first addition in quite a long time.
The new building is nearly double the size of the facility and provides more office space, extra kennel room and even a surgery center.
Though the grand opening was held this month, the Los Banos Animal Shelter has remained open to the community for some time. This latest opening unveiled the shelter’s latest facilities.
For much of the shelter’s lifetime, the staff was working with small kennels and used trailers as office spaces. Shelter assistants would place cats and dogs into free kennels while veterinarians hurried between the shelter building and the operating room.
The facility operated on minimal resources and the staff’s constant work since the late ’70s. It was not until this year that the facility was given more time and attention.
Ivan Mendez, the organization’s current supervisor, has been working with the shelter for years and is one of the leading voices in its new additions.
With prior experience in animal code enforcement and tangential experience with the shelter, Mendez has been working closely with city employees to improve the shelter.
Most of the funding for the shelter restoration came from county impact fees and from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Having been integrated into the economy as recently as 2021, the money this project gained from the ARPA was the ultimate payoff to the staff’s years of underfunded resilience.
“With all the funding we’ve gotten in the last three years, we’ve been able to provide lots of long-term resources for pets,” said Mendez about the shelter team’s expanding financial support. “This new building will also help a lot with efficiency,” he added.
Now that the facility has expanded, the staff has more space to welcome visitors and more rooms to spay and neuter animals. Moreover, the staff can create better access to vaccines for pets and strays and help lower the overall rate of animal homelessness in the county.
Although the resident shelter staff consists of Mendez, two animal control officers and two shelter attendants, the crew is also supported by several remote staff and surgeons.
Aside from ensuring the facility’s quality is suitable for the county’s pets, the shelter’s team has also focused on making the facility a friendly place for everyone.
“Whether you’re dealing with animals or with people, you want to have a welcoming atmosphere,” said Mendez. “We want the animals to be comfortable and for people to adopt them, and we want the environment to encourage that,” he explained.
The latest update will equip the facility with a new adoption room that allows guests to interact one-on-one with potentially new family members. The team also plans to commission a mural for the side of the building to make their mark on the new space.
To help more animals, the shelter’s crew will implement plans and programs that were previously out of reach due to funding.
Jason Martin and Mariah Beltran, both animal control officers, will remove animals from the streets and deliver them to the new shelter, where Susanne Pacheco and Adrian Jasso, two shelter attendants, will care for the animals once they arrive.
