March of 2025 will mark seven years since the Bryan city council agreed to start studying the construction of a new animal center.
It would replace a building that’s been used since the council decided to take over animal control services in 2011.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting (December 10), the decision was made to build a more than $7 million dollar facility.
The city department head whose responsibilities includes the animal center, Eric Zaragoza, reviewed the results of a feasibility study that included:
• More animal habitats are needed
• Spaces are used for multiple purposes, compromising primary functions
• Many program needs do not have specifically designated space
• Rooms are used as passageways for unrelated functions
• Facility needs improved accessibility
• Public access to animal habitats and comingled air creates potential for disease to spread
All seven council members supported the project. Six agreed to build it on city owned property on Martin Luther King Jr. Street next to the municipal services center.
Ray Arrington, who represents the district where the center will be built, said neighbors were opposed.
Construction could start in October 2025.
Zaragoza shared the following statistics about the Bryan Animal Center (BAC):
• Around 9,000 visitors per year at the BAC
• The BAC has the city’s largest pool of volunteers, with 3,000 applications this past year and since 2015 volunteers donated more than 31,000 hours
• During fiscal year 2024, the center took in 1,361 animals
• Animal control officers returned 667 pets to owners in FY 24
• Save rate of animals is 69%
• Since 2021, BAC has provided 1,537 vaccinations, 1,373 microchips, and 1,196 sterilizations
Click below to hear comments from the December 11, 2024 Bryan city council meeting.
Listen to “Bryan city council moves forward with building a new animal center” on Spreaker.