HART moves its animals back; shelter opens Friday

Heartland Animal Rescue Team (HART) animals are back home.

All the dogs and cats at HART, Brainerd/Baxter's animal shelter, temporarily left the original shelter on Dellwood Drive in Baxter in May and moved to the site of the former Brainerd High School Farm off Highway 25, just outside of Brainerd city limits while the shelter was being remodeled.

The remodeling project is complete and the animals are back. HART will open its doors to the remodeled shelter at 11 a.m. Friday and will be back to its scheduled hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

HART hosted an open house at its new facility Sunday and was closed for the week to move the animals back.

Donna Wambeke, HART director, said the temporary move went well. She said if it wasn't for the farm, the renovation wouldn't have been possible as there was nowhere else for the animals to go temporarily.

"We owe them so much," Wambeke said. "It was wonderful to use the high school farm."

This week HART moved 18 cats and 14 dogs back to the shelter in Baxter. Wambeke said other animals that stayed with foster residents will move back to the shelter.

Wambeke said the contractors did a good job with the project and the remodeled shelter is "beautiful." She said the renovation went well, with only a few glitches, such as HART having to pay a little more for the water pressure and a few walls that had to be repaired.

Wambeke said about $200,000 is left to pay off for the renovation, so HART will continue to raise funds. However, even though HART has to pay off its debt with the renovation, the adoption fees will remain the same and it will continue to offer promotional rates for its kittens/cats.

The renovation project included the following:

• A new design of the lobby, offering two separate entrances: One for visitors and potential adopters and one for people surrendering or re-claiming their pet from impound.

• In the front of the building, the cat rooms will be relocated, adding a small animal room to house the cats HART helps. There also will be a combination consultation and meet/greet room and reception area and offices.

• A new ventilation/air system.

• The dog kennels will be taken out and reconstructed with an updated design to include separate drains in each kennel.

• An isolated impound area; a puppy playroom on the adoption floor; a stairway in the front lobby leading to the redecorated education room on the upper level; and the parking lot was improved.