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ADL Expanding Veterinary Hospital To Accommodate Additional Population

The Animal Defense League breaks ground this week on a future Hospital Recovery Kennel. The new hospital space is needed to accommodate the 3,100 animals the city will start sending ADL late next year.

The Animal Defense League was awarded a contract to take on an additional number of animals picked up by the city, along with funding to build kennels to hold those animals. But the $2.2 million from the city’s bond package pays just for the holding kennels.

Hugo Vital at the Animal Defense League said they will need a place to examine, treat, and spay and neuter, all those additional animals.

"We knew we needed something, of course, on our end," Vital said. "Totally unfunded from the bond project, this is all in anticipation of all of that so we can not only maintain the current shelter capacity, but also the increase that is going to be coming."

Vital said ADL supporters stepped up to fund the new hospital. It will attach to the existing veterinary hospital that already takes in more than 4,000 animals a year.

The new city-funded kennels will be built on the north end of the ADL property on Nacogdoches, and are expected to be ready to accept animals by December of 2014.

Eileen Pace is a veteran radio and print journalist with a long history of investigative and feature reporting in San Antonio and Houston, earning more than 50 awards for investigative reporting, documentaries, long-form series, features, sports stories, outstanding anchoring and best use of sound.