SPCA of Philadelphia set to open new animal shelter

By Jen McShane
Collegian Staff
February 27, 2007

In a city littered with stray and abused animals, the opening of a new animal shelter in Philadelphia is a welcome relief to animal lovers city wide.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced Feb. 20 that a brand new INN-Take animal shelter would be opening in the Juniata section of the city. The INN-Take Center will house 100 stray cats and dogs, alleviating some of the stress of animal care at other SPCA shelters, as well as the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association. In fact, one of the goals with the opening of the new center is to take in more pets from PACCA, especially animals that are in poor health and may not get adopted because of it.

Besides housing stray animals in the city, the new INN-Take Center will also have veterinarians housed inside the center so that injured or sick animals can be treated immediately upon arrival. By doing this, the shelter hopes to save the lives of animals that would normally be euthanized for being in poor health, and allow these pets to be adopted. The INN-Take Center will also isolate animals that are sick or injured, keeping diseases away from animals that are well and allowing injured animals to recover.

Opening a new shelter in Philadelphia, especially one as advanced as the INN-Take Center, costs a lot of money, especially from the SPCA. Often, donations are needed to complete a building project such as the INN-Take Center. Yaron Properties, a well-known real estate agency in Philadelphia, donated the funds to the SPCA, making the construction of the center possible.

  “We’re both animal lovers and the donation seemed like an obvious choice for the company and ourselves,” said Vice President of the SPCA of Pennsylvania Harrise Yaron.

The PACCA oversees the collecting of the majority of stray animals in the Philadelphia area, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania SPCA. PACCA is a non-profit organization hired by the city government to look after the abandoned animals of the city, and it receives over 30,000 animals in this area every year. Often, PACCA shelters are overcrowded, so PACCA will send many animals to other shelters all over the city. The INN-Take Center, once it is complete, will be one of the many shelters that PACCA transfers animals to for better care and treatment.

According to Heather Redfern, Director of Public Relations for the SPCA, “Construction for the new INN-Take Center will begin in the next few weeks. We are using a pre-existing building, so construction should not take too long, plus everything is pretty much ready to go.”

mcshanej2@lasalle.edu