The Humane Society of Southern Arizona is hosting a grand opening this weekend.
The new shelter is located at 635 W. Roger Road. Vanessa Ford, the director of marketing and communications, says initial talks began about 10 years ago.
The celebration is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. That includes tours of the site, refreshments, and half-off adoption fees.
The facility features larger indoor/outdoor cat habitats and improvements you might not see like the air system. Ford says 100% of the air is recycled every 5 minutes.
The goal is to cut down the spread of diseases and make it easier to get animals in and out to a good home faster, Ford says. Something else that is new is a dedicated room for dental work and larger surgical facilities.
About every third patient has a dental issue, Ford says, and that's a conservative number. It may be hard to brush your pet's teeth, but it is vital for their health Ford said.
The facility costs about $10 million and was made possible by donors and grant money, Ford says.
