KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KC Pet Project is moving into its new 54,000 square foot facility, along with its first round of pets, in Swope Park.
The $26 million facility is the first animal shelter built in Kansas City. The old facility was a converted construction site.
The KC Campus for Animal Care welcomed its first house guests on Friday, bringing roughly 50 dogs to the facility. On Saturday, they brought in a few more.
"Our animals so far are doing so well in their new environment," KC Pet Project spokeswoman Tori Fugate said.
From more kennels to additional space outside, Fugate said it's a big change from the pets' old environment on Raytown Road.
"Over there, it's 200 dogs in one room that were barking in the old shelter," Fugate said. "And here you walk into the new animal rooms and you honestly wouldn't know if there was a dog in there."
But it's not just the pets adjusting to the new space.
"Our staff is getting to know their new areas, their new cleaning protocols, how they move animals through the building," Fugate said.
Available dogs moved in the past two days. Cats will come in the next few days.
"Our goal here is that the animals are less stressed, so we hope that they'll have a shortened length of stay," Fugate said. "And that we'll have more visitors coming to the campus to look for a pet they want to adopt."
Animal Control is still operated by the city at this time. KC Pet Project is working on the contract language for city review. There's currently no time table on when the KC Pet Project would take over animal control services.
KC Pet Project's soft opening is Jan. 1, and the official opening is Jan. 24.
