PAWTUCKET – City Councilor Mark Wildenhain says he expects the Pawtucket Animal Shelter at Slater Park to open within days, and for any remaining obstacles to be addressed promptly in doing so.
The council’s animal control subcommittee is set to receive an update on the reopening from Shelter Administrator Renee Massie tonight, March 8, on what still needs to be done to finally reopen the shelter to the public and get it back to a high-functioning place.
The Breeze reported a month ago on the continued lack of a reopening after two years of the shelter off Newport Avenue being closed amid COVID.
Wildenhain said this week that the administration had posted the available jobs, and he was told that it would take seven days to fill positions according to the rules.
In addition to pushing for a simple reopening, said Wildenhain, he also wants to see some type of celebration organized to broadcast to the public that the shelter is back and open for business.
Wildenhain said that if he hears that there are additional obstacles to getting the shelter open, he’ll want to look into using another animal control facility until that happens. He said he was hoping to see the facility reopened by March 1, but that didn’t happen. He said he plans to ask what shelter leaders see as a realistic date.
The Breeze previously reported on the lack of adoptions and general activity at the closed shelter, which led to criticism from would-be pet adopters.
The shelter has seen a recent reorganization to help facilitate a reopening. Under the new arrangement, a receptionist will take on more animal control duties and three part-time poundkeeper positions were replaced with one full-time one, one part-time one and the dual-role receptionist.
Wildenhain said he expects the shelter staff to make improvements on adoptions, which he likes to see at about a 95 percent success rate. The shelter website is still substandard, he said, and there are other further potential improvements to be made to the building.
“Anything we can do, that’s always been my goal,” he said.
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