'We have enough to build it': St. Thomas to finally get new animal shelter and dog park

After years of delays, St. Thomas, Ont. is about to get a new animal shelter and dog park.

“We will start the construction of this in the spring and summer of 2024,” said Joe Preston, St. Thomas’ mayor.

The capital project was approved in the city’s 2024 budget, and will be built on a large grass lot off Southdale Line, just south of the Doug Tarry Baseball Complex.

“I think is wonderful, but I am disappointed it’s just taken a little bit long to get going,” said Joan Rymal, a former city councillor who has been trying to get this project done for about a decade.

Rymal’s daughter Sara Teare donated $1 million to help reach a request fundraising goal of the then $2.5M project, but costs have kept going higher and higher.

With rising construction costs, the project has gone from $1.5M dollars to $2.5M to now a budgeted $3,664.000

“This one's out for a new RFP (Request for Proposal),” said Preston. “Let's see if it comes back even maybe a little cheaper. Sara’s million [dollar donation] was a big part of it. We'd really asked the animal group to go out and do some fundraising and they did it in one great big chunk. Perhaps we can even do more were the more we want to do with the shelter but we now have enough to build it.”

A previous rendering of what the new shelter and dog park could look like in St. Thomas, Ont. (Source: City of St. Thomas)

The current St. Thomas Animal Control Shelter (STACS) was constructed in the 1960’s and has outlived its lifespan.

It does meet the minimum standards of the Animal and Welfare branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, however there are many reasons it needs an upgrade.

“The minute I walked into the current animal shelter, I was appalled that that's what we had and that's what we were offering,” said Rymal. “The air system is very, very poor and the way they have to handle the animals physically because there's no outdoor cages linked.”

Rymal is excited about a new dog park in the south end of the city, and amenities associated with the new shelter.

“It'll be a wonderful place to go and I'd love to see school trips go to the animal shelter to learn about looking after animals,” said Rymal. “You can also add other services there like nice washrooms for people, visitors, and staff, the bathing area for the dog, and it will be connected to the trails and to the dog park area.”

The funding sources include $2,414,000 previously approved, $975,681 tax funded, and Infrastructure reserve $274,319.

The timeline has the Tender/RFP release in January 2024, Project award in March 2024, and the completion date in December 2024.

“It's a shame we weren't able to, to just move forward quicker,” said Preston. “For years, the average number of dogs in the shelter was one and a number of cats. So the old shelter certainly fit them, and although it wasn't as modern as you'd want it to be, it fit the numbers. As we come out of COVID, many people got pets during that time [and are] now surrendering. So we need to make sure we've got a place an adoption spot for all of those pets.”