Things got heated this summer for dogs at Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s public animal shelter off Eau Gallie Boulevard, so much so that some advocates started an online petition demanding the shelter remedy hot, crowded conditions.
The petition, created on Aug. 10, has more than 1,400 signatures.
Sheriff Wayne Ivey says the shelter already has or is addressing the concerns raised by the petition and plans to build a new, larger, cooler shelter within the next two years at the same site off Eau Gallie Boulevard.
“Our team has been in constant communication and coordination with County management through the years as there is no doubt that even with the love and attention provided to this aging structure, it is no longer conducive to major repairs such as the roof and other structural failures,” Ivey wrote in an email to FLORIDA TODAY.
“Our hope is to have a new Animal Care Center within the next 24 months, but the timeline is contingent on the implementation of the temporary structure and of course potential funding sources,” Ivey wrote.
But some of the petitioners point to what they see as a bigger pattern of neglect and say their concerns often have been ignored. With an almost $6 million budget and a decade running the shelter just west of Interstate 95, the sheriff’s animal services ought to have by now forged more humane conditions for homeless dogs and cats, some of the petitioners assert. So for them, a new shelter can’t happen soon enough.
“Right now, behind the locked doors of our county’s taxpayer-funded animal shelter, over 150 dogs are crammed into a space built for just 80,” the petition says.
The petition, created by Cortney Larson, who runs Isla’s Journey dog rescue in Palm Bay, demands immediate action as well as long-term change, including adequate shade for the backside of the shelter in the kennel areas to protect dogs from direct sunlight and extreme heat until permanent solutions are in place.
“I was appalled,” Larson, said of her recent walk through the shelter.
“It’s not about making anybody look bad,” Larson added. “It’s about what these dogs are enduring.”
Ivey says shelter plans will resolve petition’s concerns
In his email response to FLORIDA TODAY’s questions, Ivey lauded the passion of his shelter team and community partners but said the petition “…was unfortunately created by someone with no actual knowledge of our day-to-day operations and even less of what our team and I have been working on for well over two years!!
“Sadly, this petition was started without the originator even having a conversation with us about our future plans for the Animal Care Center which would have most likely resolved any concerns they had!!” he added.
Ivey pointed to the new 5,000 square-foot Animal Surgery Center as the shelter’s most pressing need because the shelter was performing more than 5,000 surgeries a year in a small room with “extremely antiquated equipment and resources.”
Ivey noted that the shelter also is currently renovating the kitten nursery facility at the Brevard County Jail, to provide 24-hour care for the influx of kittens during kitten season.
When the sheriff’s office took over Animal Services in 2014, it brought almost $4 million of its $140 million annual budget to the table for animal services to run the shelter but had no experience running a public animal shelter. Now the animal shelter’s budget is almost $6 million of the sheriff’s more than $205 million budget.
Ivey said the aged shelter he inherited in 2014, with its open-air concept, no longer works and is in “critical need” of repairs.
“The original design was not created for a central air conditioning system and while air conditioning was provided and installed last year through an incredible donation by Freedom Air, the open-air design concept just can’t support efficient cooling.”
Ivey said his team is working closely with county leadership to replace the existing structure, and the current plan is to build a temporary housing structure for animals, while the existing structure is razed and a new animal care center is built on the current location footprint.
Ivey said his team has been working on the design concept for the temporary structure, to include pricing estimation.
Ivey said that even though the shelter put significant attention on the roof, septic/drainage, kennels, exhaust/intake ventilation and oscillating/fixed industrial fan repair and placement, “the current structure continues to fail and is in need of replacement.”
“The new structure would be a state of the art temperature controlled, sound dampening environment built for current and future needs and is immediately adjacent to the K-9 Junny Animal Surgery Center!!” Ivey wrote. “Although the Charity, County and numerous supporting benefactors have made so many wonderful improvement visions a reality, the only solution possible is to build on the existing property which has been our strategy all along as the Animal Care Center needs to be in close proximity to the surgery center.”
Ivey said his team is currently working on design of the new facility, establishing a temporary facility onsite, and identifying potential funding sources. “Once the new structure is completed, the temporary facility will then serve as animal overflow when needed,” Ivey added.
The petitioners say there’s no time to waste.
“Every day we delay, dogs suffer — and some will not make it out alive. This is our county,” the petition says. “These are our animals. We will not stay silent while they suffer and die waiting for help.”
“They’re better off on the streets, to be honest,” Larson said.
Want to adopt a new pet?
Visit Brevard Animal Care Center, 5100 W. Eau Gallie Blvd., Melbourne, FL. Call: (321) 633-2024.Hours Of Operation: 1 to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.
Want to give to the Brevard sheriff’s charity?
Includes Brevard County Public Safety Charity, Pet Posse and the sheriff’s Youth Programs. To donate, visit Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Charity’s website at: https://bcsocharity.org/.
Here are the charity’s key stats:
Revenue: $2,156,672 (2024)
Expenses: $1,590,512 (2024)
Program services expenses: $1,141,491 (72%)
Fundraising expenses: $292,234 (18%)
Administrative expenses: $156,787 (10%)
Compensation to officers: $171,967 (2024)
Executive Director compensation: ($154,354 in 2023)
Surplus/deficit: $566,160 (2024)
Source: Florida Department of Agriculture and Human Services
Waymer covers environment. Contact him at (321) 261-5903 or at jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Activists, Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey agree: New animal shelter needed
Reporting by Jim Waymer, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
