The Humane Society of Manatee County is about to nearly double its footprint in Bradenton. The shelter is replacing its 6,700-square-foot adoption center with an 11,800-square-foot facility designed, in the words of Executive Director Rick Yocum, through the eyes of the shelter animals themselves. Think six separate dog kennel pods with indoor and covered outdoor access, turf yards, and a splash pad or shallow pool for hot Florida afternoons.
Work starts in November with phase one: a vacant 4,000-square-foot building on the 2.5-acre campus gets converted into a 3,000-square-foot cat facility. Once the cats are relocated, the 1947 shelter building and the old cat cottage will be demolished to clear the way for the rest of the project. The new animal housing will also be storm-resilient, equipped with an emergency generator so animals can stay on-site during hurricanes instead of being evacuated.
What moved this project from a five-to-seven-year wish list to a shovels-in-the-ground reality? A major gift from a past adopter that covers most of the cost. Yocum calls him an angel. If you’d like to be part of the next chapter, the Humane Society will need volunteers as the expansion rolls forward. So here’s our question for you: if you could pick one feature for the new shelter, what would it be?
