News 12 at 6 o'clock / Wednesday, June 29, 2011

GROVETOWN, Ga. -- It's a state-of-the-art, 2.1 million dollar building, and it's all for animals. The new Columbia County Animal Services building is set to open next month.

It's got space for about four times as many animals and News 12 is giving you the first look inside the new building.

This summer, adoptions have been down at the Columbia County Animal Shelter, but they're hoping this new building will turn that all around.

Meet Hooch. He's a Basset Hound mix, looking for a good home. Hooch is one of dozens of cats and dogs at the Columbia County Animal Shelter. But soon, Hooch and the other animals will be packing up and moving from their current building, down the road to this new one.

"I'm in awe every time I come in here. We can't wait for it to open," said Linda Glasscock, director of Columbia County Animal Services.

The facility, built with sales tax dollars, will give more animals a chance at getting adopted.

"At our current facility we have 20 cages just for the dogs, here we have 80 so that's a humongous difference in size. We'll be able to hold a lot more," Glasscock said.

Right now, the shelter is full. Some animals even have to double up.

"They can get in there and they can play and they can go from cage to cage," Glasscock said. "Looks like you're walking into a high dollar pet store."

There's also a grooming room, a first for animal services.

"This way we'll be able to clean them up, trim them up a little bit and put them out there for adoption all pretty," Glasscock said.

These rooms are all about the animals.

"It's for them. It's not about us, it's about them. This is their home," Glasscock said. "That old shelter has been around for a long, long, long time and those animals deserve this."

And the staff hopes the new location on William Few Parkway will be more inviting for families looking for a pet.

"We're going to have a lot of foot traffic, we're in a nice neighborhood," Glasscock said. "Where we were at before was kinda stuck back off the road."

This will give pets like Hooch a chance to find their forever home.

"They'll all be here with us and we can take care of them," Glasscock said. "They deserve it."

Sales tax dollars built the building, but they won't run it. The staff expects costs to increase because there will be more animals to feed. The problem is their budget is the same as last year.

Starting next week, July 5, the old building will have limited services while they move into the new one. They ask that you call before you head to the shelter.

The ribbon cutting for the new building is set for July 19.