A warehouse that housed Hamilton County paper records for two decades now has a new function: a home for more than a hundred adoptable shelter dogs.
Clerk of Courts Pavan Parikh says his office cleared out the space because state law no longer requires maintaining the paper copies.
"We started collaborating across government agencies and really just started talking to each other and figuring out, hey, we have this asset — are there better ways that it can be used?" Parikh said.
Cincinnati Animal CARE operates the animal shelter and manages the county's dog warden services. The primary location on Colerain Ave. isn't big enough, so a secondary overflow space on Dane Ave. opened about a year and a half ago.
Senior Manager of Community Engagement Lisa Colina says the Dane Ave. location needs some upgrades (Ed. note: pup-grades?) to better accommodate the animals. When the former records facility on Winton Rd. became available, it was the perfect opportunity to use the space as a temporary overflow shelter until renovations at Dane are complete in a few months.
"Once that happens, Winton will start to undergo renovations to get this facility up-to-date to be an operational animal shelter," Colina said. "The intention from the county is to keep the Winton Road facility permanently as a secondary location for us to utilize as an overflow space."
For now, rows of document-lined shelves have been replaced with rows of kennels and a few indoor play areas.
"We also had a new drain installed and a little bathing and dish area put in," Colina said. "That was not needed when it was a records facility, of course, but animals will need baths, and they will definitely need their dishes washed."
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Eventually the county plans to build an entirely new shelter, but that's at least a few years away.
The primary Cincinnati Animal CARE facility is still open, and cat intake and adoptions will continue at the Dane Ave. facility for the duration of renovations there.
