Animals have been adopted or recovered from the Animal Shelter on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for as long as community memory serves. The shelter was run by the Animal Protection Society until 2004, when Orange County assumed direct operational responsibility for the shelter. The next year the County created the Department of Animal Services, responsible for animal control as well as sheltering services in Orange County.

Despite all of these changes, animals have continued to be adopted and recovered from the same place. Indeed, there are vendors as well as members of the public who still mistake APS and Orange County's Animal Shelter. At the end of the year, however, we will all need to change our habits and perceptions, since the existing shelter will be decommissioned as a result of site preparation for UNC's new Carolina North campus.

But just around the corner is the construction of Orange County's new state-of-the-art animal services facility at the northwest corner of Eubanks and Millhouse roads. It has been designed as a destination that draws the public, ensures the very best standards of care, presents adoptable animals in the best light and does so in a sustainable manner. In addition, for the first time all Animal Services programs and staff will be together in one place.

Until the new facility opens at the end of the year, we will continue to operate the historic Animal Shelter, but in a rapidly changing landscape. A remediation project has resulted in parking and entrance changes to the shelter.

Regardless of the appearance, the Animal Shelter will continue to operate on a regular schedule during this process (which we expect to end in August), and Animal Services will strive to keep its services in the mind of the public. Staff is creating a Frequently Asked Questions brochure (available shortly at www.co.orange.nc.us/animalservices/index.asp), and we will work to increase community outreach so that animal adoptions and the recovery of lost pets do not decrease during the project.