A shelter for adoptable stray dogs found in Syracuse is now fully operational. City officials gathered with animal welfare groups Monday to celebrate the grand-reopening of the Second Chance Canine Adoption Shelter.
The facility next to Jamesville Correctional Center closed during the pandemic, but Mayor Ben Walsh and city staff saw its potential to care for the increasing population of strays.
“We knew that long term we're going to need more kennels. We're going to need, unfortunately, more space for dogs," Walsh said. "But in the short term, we needed to make sure that we had every available kennel in productive use. And so we got together with the Friends of Second Chance and we developed a partnership.”
Kimberly Smith-Ford is Board President of Second Chance.
“We are so excited to have life back here at the shelter and have it up and running and open again. It's been a great partnership so far,” Smith-Ford said.
When the shelter initially opened in 2015, it was operated in part by inmates from the Jamesville Correctional Facility along with Friends of Second Chance. The inmate program shut down when the pandemic hit, and never ressumed. Smith-Ford says the shelter starting taking in dogs again last fall.
“Now we have dogs here in kennels and we also have dogs in foster homes, so it's allowed us to actually take in more dogs than we have previously," Smith-Ford said. So the city staff cares for them on a daily basis. And then the friends group, we facilitate all of the adoptions, fundraising events, donations pay for all of the medical costs and basically keep the shelter up and running.”
The city hired seven attendants and one supervisor to oversee care of the dogs. The facility as room for 16 designated dogs from the city’s contracted shelter, where dogs are held and evaluated prior to being made available at Second Chance for adoption. All dogs are up to date on vaccines, spayed and neutered, heartworm tested, and microchipped upon adoption.
You can learn more about the adoption process and see available dogs on their website.
