Heading west on Stowell Road toward the ocean, it’s crop fields and industrial buildings as far as the eye can see—but not for long.
On May 21, the Santa Valley Humane Society broke ground on its new adoption and boarding facility. Once completed, the building will be home to not only the organization’s adoption and boarding services, but a new-and-improved spay and neuter clinic, a community education center, and a pet memorial park.
The 20,000-square-foot complex will also have 42 dog runs, a 10-run dog isolation unit, and an indoor-outdoor cat care facility—all designed to meet the needs of the region’s growing pet population.
The most unique aspect of the new facility, however, will be the incorporation of a veterinarian technician training program. Jointly sponsored by the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society and Allan Hancock College, the program will provide future animal caregivers with local, hands-on experience.
“We all run on very tight budgets,” Santa Maria Valley Humane Society’s executive director Kelly White O’Neill recently told the Sun in an interview. “So when somebody has the resources, why not partner with someone else who can use them?”
Schematics for the new vet tech—that is, animal nurse—program have yet to be finalized, but White O’Neill said the long-term goal of the partnership is to employ more registered and professionally educated animal care workers locally rather than rely on less formally trained staff.
“I always say [vet techs] are like unicorns,” White O’Neill said. “Vets in Santa Maria usually have to train their own staff. While they’re training their staff they’re not working, so it puts a lot of strain on our local doctors.
“And if we’re able to expand our services without increasing our staffing costs, that’s great,” White O’Neill added.
The Santa Maria Valley Humane Society has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1982 as a completely volunteer-based shelter run out of people’s homes.
The new space, White O’Neill said, will double, and in some cases triple, the amount of animals that receive services, including surgeries, sheltering, and boarding.
And if the county of Santa Barbara decides to go through with a pet spay and neuter ordinance, she added, the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society will be better equipped to help people comply with the law.
If everything goes according to plan, White O’Neill said, the society could start pouring concrete for the project as soon as this fall. But since the new facility is going to be located on land owned by the city of Santa Maria, the society is waiting for the city to finalize the project before moving forward.
Still, Humane Society staff members and volunteers can’t help but be excited.
Santa Maria resident Susan Homishak has been a volunteer dog walker with the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society for two years. She said she can’t wait for the new facility to be built.
“The new facility is going to be gorgeous,” she said. “It will be so nice not to have to squeeze along that skinny little fence [at the organization’s current property] when walking the dogs.”
Another aspect of the new center Homishak is looking forward to is the web-based surveillance available to pet owners who leave their cats and dogs at the society’s boarding facility.
“I think people will feel a lot better leaving their pets when they go on a trip if they can see their pets online,” Homishak said.
Overall, Homishak is glad there are places like the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society around to help the furry members of the community.
“It’s wonderful that we can help defenseless animals until we can find them their forever homes,” she said. “We can give them a little bit better of a situation until they’re adopted.”
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.