WINK News tours Cape Coral Animal Shelter ahead of grand opening

The largest city in Southwest Florida will now have a new home for furry friends when they need it.

The City of Cape Coral is getting its first animal shelter, and WINK News received a tour of the facility Monday before it officially opens for service.

Employees are folding up boxes and putting the finishing touches on Cape Coral Animal Shelter along the 300 block of SW 2nd Avenue.

“It’s the only one; it’s first; it’s very exciting,” said Liz McCauley, the executive director of Cape Coral Animal Shelter.

She gave us a sneak peek inside the shelter and showed us some of the features installed to provide care for animals it receives.

“The cats will enjoy climbing up there; cats like to be up high,” McCauley said. “We can put adult cats in here and kittens, which unfortunately we will have a lot of kittens.”

The no-kill shelter houses 12 kennels.

“They have access to the outside,” McCauley said. “They can get a lot of fresh air in and out, plenty of room.”

The shelter also features a state-of-the-art clinic open to the public.

“This is our blood machines, our diagnostics,” McCauley said. “This is where we can determine anything that might be wrong with the animal.”

And the new Cape Coral Animal Shelter is not limited to physical features but provides services that go beyond the tangible.

“We are considered no-kill,” McCauley said. “We are managed admission, so basically there’s no time limit on how long [animals] will stay here. So, when they come in, we will evaluate them and decide what’s the best home for them.”

Another crucial aspect of the shelter will be its ability to build strong community relationships within Cape Coral and beyond to help find permanent homes for animals.

“We have been working over the last several months to develop a really good foster network,” McCauley said. “So we have a lot of folks who are ready to foster for us, which will be a great opportunity to get the animals in, vet checked and out into foster homes.”

McCauley said this foster network will be one of the key functioning cogs for Cape Coral Animal Shelter.

“The more adoptions we have, the more fosters we have, the more animals we can take in,” McCauley said.

Cape Coral Animal Shelter will hold an “’80’s Decades Party” 7 to 11 p.m Friday, March 6. It serves as the biggest fundraiser for the shelter. It will also be a night of costumes, cocktails, food, music, dancing, contests and auctions.

The shelter says tickets to this event are still available but selling quickly. More information is available on Cape Coral Animal Shelter’s website or by calling 239-573-2002.

McCauley hopes the shelter will be up and running by the end of March. With the facility nearly at operational status, McCauley said the next objective is pivotal.

“They always say ‘Build and they will come,’” MCauley said. “Well, we’ve built it, but now we have to run it.”