Kansas City Campus for Animal Care Opening January 1, 2020
(Official Grand Opening Date will be January 24, 2020)
The Kansas City Campus for Animal Care and KC Pet Project are thrilled to announce that their new campus will officially open for city services to the public on Wednesday, January 1st at Noon. The campus is located in Swope Park across from Lakeside Nature Center and down the street from the Kansas City Zoo and Starlight Theatre. Operations of city services will transition from the current operations at 4400 Raytown Road to the new campus at 7077 Elmwood Avenue on January 1 for all services related to animal sheltering including adoptions, lost and found pet services, stray and owner surrender intakes, and more. The shelter at 4400 Raytown Road will no longer service animals of Kansas City, MO as of January 1st.
“January 1st is a significant date for our organization as it is the anniversary of the day that we assumed operations of the Kansas City, MO animal shelter 8 years ago in 2012,” said Teresa Johnson, President/CEO of KC Pet Project. “The Kansas City Campus for Animal Care is a dream come true for our organization. We’re thrilled to bring our progressive level of lifesaving and our ‘Solutions – Not Excuses’ motto that we’ve implemented in a nearly 50 year old facility to this state-of-the-art campus.”
The official grand opening and ribbon cutting of the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care will be on Friday, January 24th at 9:00am.
The current shelter at 4400 Raytown Road will remain open throughout the holidays. The shelter will close to the public for adoptions from December 27-31 to move animals from the current to the new facility. The shelter will remain open through those days for intakes and for the public to look for their lost and found pets.
KC Pet Project will host “A New Home for the Holidays” Clear the Shelter Adoption Event, presented by the Petco Foundation, from December 13-24 in an effort to move as many pets into homes for the holidays to get ready for the big move. Adult dog and cat adoptions will be $25 at their three adoption centers throughout the 10 day event. There will also be a “Your Home for the Holidays” foster campaign to move animals into foster homes to prepare for the move.
“KC Pet Project staff and volunteers can’t wait to move into our new campus, and this is also a very exciting time for the animals of our shelter,” said Tori Fugate, Chief Communications Officer of KC Pet Project. “Our hope is that we can find permanent and temporary homes for as many pets as we can for the holidays so they do not have to spend Christmas in the shelter. This will also mean that we don’t have as many animals to move into our new shelter before we open to the public on the 1st.”
The Kansas City Campus for Animal Care, a public-private partnership that will represent the best practices in animal sheltering across the United States. This marks the efforts of Mayor Quinton Lucas and former Mayor Sly James, former City Manager Troy Schulte, Kansas City Councilmembers, Kansas City Parks Director Terry Rynard and former Director Mark McHenry, the Parks Directors, KCMO GO Bond voters, and generous civic and philanthropic leaders who have all made this facility possible. The campus will feature modern and “fear-free” housing separated by species, outdoor “catios” for the cats to have fresh air, a state-of-the-art veterinary clinic, an Education Pavilion, coffee shop and much more.
On April 5, 2018, the Kansas City, MO City Council unanimously approved the cooperative agreement for the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care. This agreement authorized the design and construction of the new animal care campus in Swope Park and appropriated $18M in KC GO bond funding to the facility project account.
It also authorized the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care to enter into professional services, design, and construction contracts to complete the project. In addition to the City’s contribution, the private sector has already extended significant generosity to this project, contributing over $5M in cash commitments and almost $5M in pro bono services toward the construction of the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care. Naming opportunities for the Campus are available for those who wish to invest in the future of our community’s pets.