The Los Banos Animal Shelter is a shelter that takes in pets without a home and helps those animals find homes. Luckily for these four legged friends the shelter is being reconstructed in what Mayor Paul Llanez described has been “decades in the making.”
One of the upgrades in the building is a very spacious new lobby. According to a Nov 5, 2024 Youtube video entitled “We revamped our Animal Shelter,” Sergeant Ivan Mendez said, “We’re super excited about our new building, I can thank Llanez, council members, and the city manager for making this happen.” The building as a whole has even gotten more square feet. Mendez continued, “We went from roughly 700 square feet to believe it, 1500 square feet with this new building.”
In the original building, there was not a formal adoption room. However, with this renovation an adoption room has been added. In the video, Llanez claimed, “This (the adoption room) is what the public has been asking for.”
Another big addition is the new medical room. Animals will now be able to get spayed and neutered in this room saving a trip for owners and potential owners.
Mendez’ favorite addition is the new cat room. He said, “This new addition cat room is gonna be a huge huge improvement for our staff and for our residents.”
According to the video, the following items have been part of this renovation process:
- Extended operating hours, including weekends, for easier community visits and adoptions.
- New animal shelter building.
- Generous donation of a new animal shelter sign from Morning Star.
- Weekly vet care, previously unavailable.
- New AC systems and coolers for a comfortable environment.
- Additional staff members for better animal care.
- We’ve improved our operations and communication by installing faster internet service with Wi-Fi.
- We’ve received record-breaking grants of over $300,000 to support these improvements.
- We’ve expanded our outdoor kennels with 10 new kennels, the first expansion in over 20 years.
- We’ve installed cat portals to facilitate easier movement between spaces for the cats.
- We’ve replaced our old indoor dog kennel doors with new ones for safety and comfort.
- We’ve provided cozy dog beds and houses, replacing items that were last replaced over 10 years ago.
- We’ve received generous donations of over $8,000 from the community.
- We’ve re-established PetcoLove Partners, helping more animals find loving homes.
- We’ve upgraded our indoor lighting with 18 new energy-efficient LED lights.
The new and improved animal shelter has much more to offer to the public and has been given a much needed makeover for not just the staff and citizens, but for our four legged friends who are looking for a brand new home. Thanks to the city staff and team, the shelter now can offer better care, efficiency, and a welcoming environment for animals and the community in the near future.
