New animal services shelter gives St. Joseph’s pets a place to call home 

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV)-- The city of St. Joseph held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new animal services shelter at 3409 S. Belt Highway. 

For Holly Bowie, the shelter’s manager, the opening was a huge sigh of relief after everything it took to get to this point. 

“There was lot of activities and a lot of moving parts so I am really happy and happy to finally share it with the community,” she said.  

She said the project is also a major achievement in her career because she was involved throughout the entire process, having a chance to speak up about what the animals and staff needed.  

Bowie said having a safe space for her team to provide care for the animals means a lot to her.  

“A place you can actually can clean because before you know you just couldn’t even keep things clean so I am happy to have a place like this where they can come and volunteer,” she added.  

The project was funded with $3.4 million from the Capital Improvement Program, along with $1.6 million raised by the Friends of the Animal Shelter. 

Bowie said the shelter currently houses about 45 dogs and 25 cats.  

“I hope people in the community want to be more involved in the community to volunteer, even comes to visit the place or just adopts from us and chooses us to find a place for pets,” Bowie said.  

James Weieinger, a St. Joe resident who attended the ribbon cutting, said the new shelter has been a long time coming, so he wanted to come see it for himself.  

“A lot of people in St. Joe contributed to it and it is really great,” he said. 

Despite his love for animals, Weieinger said he probably won’t adopt one because he’s not sure he could give it the care it needs.  

“I used to have a dog up in my farm but it is just me now. I can only take care of myself now but I got a lot of neighbor dogs who I can take care of,” he added.  

Weieinger said the city needed a new animal shelter to help care for homeless animals and give them a place to call home. 

Garold Crail, another St. Joseph resident, said he was impressed with the new facility.  

“I kinda like a good dog but not a bad one haha,” he joked.  

Crail said his hope is that all the furry friends at the shelter find good homes and have a comfortable place to stay in the meantime. 

The Friends of the Animal Shelter will hold a special grand-opening adoption event from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. 

The event will include guided tours of the new building, a donation drive for items needed by the animals at the shelter and activities for kids.