The Halifax Regional Municipality is looking for a new animal shelter service to house rescued and neglected dogs, cats and exotic animals.
The city is looking for a shelter with a minimum of 15 kennels for dogs, five for cats and at least one for other animals such as ferrets and reptiles.
It must also have a contingency plan to handle any overflow and a way to care for animals for an extended period of time if they are held for evidence or court proceedings.
The shelter would be the keeper for all animals picked up by HRM Animal Services, so the tender also calls for a facility that can provide 24-hour access for animal by-law officers.
Coun. David Hendsbee said the city is not interested in building its own facility because it would cost more than $1 million.
"All we're doing is looking for a venue available to us to use for services … a proponent in the general public to see if they have a facility either available now or want to build a facility they can utilize to service this contract," he said.
Old contract expires
The current shelter, run by the Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, receives about $500,000 a year from the city for its services. But the city's contract with the non-profit organization expires next spring.
A study by the municipality in 2005 found that the SPCA shelter in Burnside was "barely adequate in virtually every aspect of shelter management."
"Because of its poor design, it makes it extremely difficult to provide proper upkeep and maintenance," the report said. "It is surprising what is being accomplished in spite of the condition of the facility."
The report concluded that upgrading the facility was "virtually impossible" without gutting the entire building and renovating the inside.
Hendsbee said Friday the SPCA may still put in a bid on the current tender, but there could also be other interested parties.
"I think there's a number of kennel operations and other pet-care facilities out there that may want to look at this as an opportunity," he said. "We may have vacant warehouses anywhere in the Metro area that could possibly be utilized."
The contract is for a maximum of five years. Proposals must be submitted by Dec. 1 and municipal officials want the service to be in place by next April 1.
Interesting that the word "pound" does not appear in this article. Wonder why?
Click here to see our earlier post about the pound contract and the SPCA's budget
We have a clarification or two to add to the CBC story:
First of all, HRM does not contract the SPCA to run a shelter. It contracts it to run a POUND. The "pound" is presently an area within the Metro Shelter. The article fails to make the distinction.Second, comments on the CBC page were right to point out the dichotomy between one million dollars and the very small numbers of kennels Hendsbee says the city needs.
It should be known that Hendsbee's figure of $1 million is based on a study by HRM staff from a few years ago, prior to the first pound/AC contract it signed with the SPCA. At that time, apparently the city did not want to take on the task of launching its own shelter. So to discourage councilors from voting for it, the staff inflated the estimated costs to one million dollars. That figure backfired, however, because it led the SPCA to bid very high - $400,000 - for the pound and AC services.
It should and would not cost one million dollars to build a pound of such a small size; in fact, it's doubtful a much larger pound would even cost so much. Retrofitting a warehouse or even a farmhouse with lots of cheap land around it is entirely doable for less.
Lastly, HRM needs a much bigger facility for both the pound and the main shelter. The study mentioned pointed this out. The Metro Shelter is considerably smaller than shelters run for cities that are barely half the size of HRM.
