Cape Coral Animal Shelter
Homeless pet numbers surge, new shelter to ease overcrowding
With more than 165,000 residents, Cape Coral’s people population has more than doubled since 2000. This growth also brought an influx of our pets, many of which can get lost, are runaways or are, unfortunately, no longer wanted. Although Lee County Domestic Animal Services and the Gulf Coast Humane Society in Fort Myers have helped pets return safely home or find a new one, clearly there is need to help. Thankfully, that’s on the horizon. The nonprofit Cape Coral Animal Shelter opens next spring. This no-kill shelter in the next 20 years is projected to save more than 40,000 homeless or unwanted pets, some coming from the Lee County Domestic Animal Services, others from Cell Dogs, a Lee County sheriff’s pet adoption program. The new Cape shelter will also offer fostering, senior pet, catch-spay-neuter-release, owner/pet training programs and a low-cost vet clinic. Pamela Aubuchon, the Cape shelter’s director, says, “One of the many things this organization is taking aim at is helping to end animal cruelty, abuse, neglect and abandonment.” Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Aubuchon, volunteers and other board members, the shelter project has been steadily in motion. “We have had so many people behind our efforts,” says Aubuchon, explaining that Cape officials and many local merchants were onboard from the start. Others were involved, including Girl Scouts Troop 473―donating a portion of cookie sales―the Cape’s Christa McAuliffe Charter Elementary School, its kids and staff raising funds for shade trees for the shelter’s yard, she says. Volunteers such as Louise Hebert and Robin Griffith put in countless hours to make the Cape shelter happen, Hebert focusing on fundraising and public awareness “because [the shelter] is so desperately needed,” explains Hebert, who has three rescue dogs at home. Griffiths, with a rescue Doberman named Ti and an eclectus parrot named Kozmo, recently chaired the shelter’s 2017 Wicked Dolphin “Shelter House Rock” Decades Party in Cape Coral. The shelter also sells T-shirts at a Cape Coral Farmers Market booth (Saturdays during season), the Sunset Celebration (first Wednesdays) at the Cape Coral Yacht Club. Additional donations can be made via the Cape Coral Animal Shelter website/social media page. There’s also a digital newsletter. “Owning a pet is an honor and an incredible blessing,” says Aubuchon, looking forward to breaking ground for the shelter this fall.
Ann Marie O’Phelan is a Southwest Florida resident and a frequent contributor to TOTI Media.