FDL Humane Society Holds Pre-Grand Opening for New Shelter

The Humane Society opened the doors of its brand new shelter in Fond du Lac this weekend for a pre-grand opening event. People from around the community took tours of the new facility, took part in raffles and enjoyed refreshments both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Humane Society Board President Joe Leventhal calls the new building “a dream come true”, and adds “We now have the space to provide the service to the community that we were destined to provide. No matter what is thrown at is – everybody knows Fond du Lac has hoarder situations – and in the past it was a big panic, trying to figure out what to do. Now we’re ready – we have the facility for it.”

Shelter Manager Renee Webb told us one of the spaces in the new building that she’s most looking forward to utilizing is the kennels that are designed to help house pets of domestic abuse victims and their families. “Fond du Lac has always done a really good job of taking care of the victims of domestic abuse, but the one piece that has been missing all of these years is the animals,” Webb said. “A lot of victims will not leave their abusers for fear of what might happen with the pets. This new program – the animals have a place to go,” she said. The Humane Society and Solutions Center will be partnering in that new program.

Fond du Lac City Manager Joe Moore was among the attendees of the open house. He tells us that the new shelter will be great for both animal lovers – and people looking to adopt pets in the community. “A lot of people have dogs and cats, and there are a lot of people who want them. This will be a place, I think, where it will make that experience of coming to look for an animal that you might want to adopt even more positive,” Moore said.

The building is not quite ready for the shelter to fully move in. New custom-built kennels are being constructed for the facility to replace the ones from the old facility. Once those are completed and installed, the building will be ready for a full move-in. The humane society hopes to move in within the next month.

You can watch a video tour of the new shelter on our Facebook page