$6 Million Pet Adoption Center on Drawing Board

Animal Samaritans plan to build Pet Adoption Center in 2022

THOUSAND PALMS — A new, $6 million state-of-the-art Pet Adoption and Humane Education Center is scheduled to be built in 2022 adjacent to the Thousand Palms Veterinary Clinic on Pet Land Place at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus.

Sid Craig, capital campaign director, told Uken Report that major donors have stepped forward to contribute $800,000    to bolster the seed money of just over $1  million.

“We need a new facility for several reasons,” CEO Tom Snyder told Uken Report. “To start, our current no-kill animal shelter is no longer adequate for the homeless animals who depend on us for help.  It was built as the desert’s first vet clinic dedicated to spay/neuter services, and not as an animal shelter.  While it’s nice the animals have rooms and not kennels to live in, these rooms lack standard floor drains and we need more rooms to house more pets.”

The new 20,000-square-foot facility will house as many as 40 dogs and 40 cats at one time. It will feature a mid-century aesthetic design to match the history of the desert culture.

“We need yard space for play for large breed dogs,” Snyder said. “The current shelter is located on a busy street that limits when and how often we can walk the dogs outside. Additionally, it is not set up for behavior training, and we need a designated, open, temperature-controlled space to train dogs with behavior issues as behavior issues, such as resource guarding, fearfulness, timidity, impulse control, et al., are a primary barrier to 1) getting shelter pets adopted and 2) for shelter pets staying adopted once they are brought into the home.”

The Center will feature a Humane Education Center to accommodate students for educational field trips. In this space lessons will be taught on pet safety, pet ownership, animal anti-bullying and and anti-cruelty lessons, and hands-on experiential learning with live animals.

The grounds will feature two covered dog parks, one for small dogs and for large dogs, with an area for pet agility and animal behavior training.

How to help

Please make checks, corporate matches, or other gifts payable to:

Animal Samaritans
72120 Pet Land Place
Thousand Palms, CA 92276