OKMULGEE, Okla. — Ground broke on a new animal adoption center in Okmulgee on June 16.
2 News Oklahoma listened to the local humane society about the need for more kennel space and the creation of a community space.
Right now, a vacant plot of land in downtown Okmulgee has overgrown grass and trash lying around. But in four to six months, imagine rescue animals playing around there.
That’s what the Okmulgee County Humane Society has planned for it, along with a new adoption center next door.
On Monday, they unveiled a new identity as the “OKCO Humane Society” and broke ground on the new space.
"The need for this is great," board president Aimee Robinson told 2 News.
She used to live in Wisconsin a few years ago and was looking to adopt, she recalled.
“I noticed a lot of the dogs coming in were from Oklahoma,” said Robinson. “I had no idea that Oklahoma had such a severe overpopulation that dogs were being transported out of state until I lived in Wisconsin.”
WATCH: Ground breaks on new Okmulgee animal adoption shelter
This new center would add some much-needed space to house more dogs in need of rescue.
“The hope is that, with this space,” Robinson explained, “we do know that likely within the first month, because of the crisis that we're in, it will be full.”
2 News Oklahoma’s Braden Bates reported last year how a man’s dog was euthanized at a city animal shelter where the Humane Society shared a space at the time.
When we asked Robinson if she thinks, with a new facility like this, situations such at that might become less likely, she replied, “Our Humane Society has always been a no-kill humane society, which means that we operate at saving at least 90% of the animals in our care.”
We later followed up, asking if the more dogs they can hold in their new facility further eliminates that 10% of cases where euthanasia is likely, she responded, “So, for our structure, we will never take in an animal and not have space for it. … We pull animals from municipal shelters that do have that capacity situation where they are having to euthanize due to capacity. So, we will only take in animals knowing we have space or a foster.
Ultimately, they also want the space to serve multiple purposes.
“Our plan for this space is to be bright and cheery and full of life,” she explained. “And people want to come here and meet their friends and walk a dog play with the cats in the ‘catio’ room. But even more than that, we wanna do events. We wanna have, you know, a really fun space outdoors where people can come and listen to live music and invite the local concert bands or what have you, and just be an integral part of the community.”
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