Kent Animal Shelter Completes Renovations, Reopens for Adoptions

After more than a year of construction and over two decades of planning, Kent Animal Shelter has completed a $4.6 million renovation project and reopened its doors to the public.

The upgrades include a new kennel building with 28 indoor-outdoor runs, two puppy rooms, outdoor play yards, a bathing and grooming room, and an interaction room for prospective adopters to meet animals. The shelter also constructed a wellness center with eight additional indoor-outdoor dog rooms, spaces for kittens and smaller animals, and a treatment room for veterinary evaluations and testing.

“We finally got all the permits, and for the past 14 months, we’ve been building, and we’ve completed them just a couple of weeks ago, actually, and moved our dogs back from Westhampton, where we were boarding them,” Kent Animal Shelter executive director Pamela Green said. “Now, we’re open to the public. It’s actually gotten quite busy, and we started taking in new rescues.

“We have a new kennel, and we have an interaction room, which we didn’t have before. We have 28 indoor outdoor kennels. We have outdoor play yards. We have a bathing grooming room, which we didn’t have before. Everything is two puppy rooms. Everything’s new. And then we also built a wellness center next to that building, and that has another eight dog rooms, indoor, outdoor dog rooms in there, and a couple separate rooms for cages and smaller kittens and puppies, cats and so forth. We have a new treatment room for when the animals come in for the veterinarian to take a look at them.”

The renovations replace the shelter’s original kennel, built in 1968, which Green said had become outdated.

Plans to replace the original kennel had been in motion since the early 2000s, but the shelter faced zoning restrictions in the Town of Riverhead and environmental concerns related to its location near the Peconic River and within the Central Pine Barrens. Green said that securing permits required extensive discussions with local, county and state agencies, as well as significant infrastructure investment, including nearly $1 million for a septic system that meets hospital-grade requirements.

“It was quite antiquated,” Green said, noting that the shelter had been working toward new facilities for more than 20 years but faced permitting and zoning challenges. “We’re on the river, we’re also in the Pine Barrens. We’ve got state officials, town officials, anyone. Health officials made us put in nearly a million dollars for the septic system.”

While construction was underway, Kent’s dogs were housed at Bideawee in Westhampton, where the shelter had access to 13 dog runs. Cats remained in the cattery at Kent’s Calverton campus, and the shelter’s low-cost spay and neuter clinic continued to operate throughout the project.

The project was funded through donations, fundraising events, and grants from New York State and Suffolk County.

“Our donors really made it possible,” she said. “We’re not funded by the government, so the faith and support of the people who love this shelter was essential.”

Founded nearly 50 years ago, Kent Animal Shelter is a private, nonprofit humane society that provides rescue, adoption, and veterinary services for abused, abandoned and homeless animals. The shelter places between 600 and 650 animals annually.

“The pet shops are not allowed to sell live animals anymore,” Green added. “That’s a New York State law. So adopt. There’s so many animals that need homes, and there’s always an overpopulation in shelters. There’s great animals that you can give a wonderful life to, and they’ll give you a wonderful life in return.”

Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. More information is available at 631-727-5731 or kentanimalshelter.com.