CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After many years serving the community, the Ingleside Animal Shelter has come to the end of its era.
The original shelter was lost during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, but community member Robert Trevino stepped in to help, offering his own boarding facility as the new shelter. That shelter was leased by the city of Ingleside in 2019. However, that lease ends Aug. 4, leaving roughly 20 animals without a home.
Trevino and the city of Ingleside had a yearly contract to house the animals at Trevino's property.
This year, the city requested a two year lease on a monthly basis with a 60 day notice to vacate the property, while Trevino wanted a five year lease. The city could not agree to his request due to the fact that they were working on developing their own new animal shelter facility.
"We’re to that point now where it’s time for us to have our own shelter built, and it’s been great working with him, but we’ve been there four years now and we could not see it going into a five year lease agreement," Ingleside City Manager Brenton Lewis said.
Since 2019, Ingleside City Council has budgeted for a new city shelter that is owned by the city. They are in the process of taking bids and looking at designs for the new animal shelter. City Council members said that construction will take about a year.
"Make sure we have facilities for ones that need to be quarantined, an intake area, we need an area where citizens can go in and a reception area where people can meet their new furry friends," Lewis said.
During the time period in which the city will have no shelter they hope for people to adopt, rescue or foster the animals that are currently at the shelter. The animals that don't find a home by Aug. 4 will be put down.
"It’s one of those things that I know the citizens of Ingleside and this area will step forward," Lewis said.
For those wanting to help any of the remaining animals, call (361) 776-2531.
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