Santa Cruz SPCA Opens New Shelter: Firsts to be Shared on Social

COMMUNITY NEWS Santa Cruz SPCA Opens New Shelter

Firsts to be Shared on Social Channels; Grand Opening Expected in 2021

At long last, the nonprofit Santa Cruz SPCA has a new shelter, newly built at 2601 Chanticleer Ave., and animals and staff have started to move in.

“We are thrilled beyond measure to be moving into our beautiful new forever home,” said Ali Talley, executive director of Santa Cruz SPCA. “After many years of planning and much hard work, we have finally made our dream of a new home a reality. In this new facility we will be able to save many more animals, expand our life-saving programs, and engage even more fully with our community.”

“Due to COVID-19, we are unable to have the joyful public celebrations that we planned,” she added, “but we look forward to celebrating with the community when safe to do so next year. In the meantime, we’ll be sharing all of our special ‘firsts’ on social channels and on our website — first adoption at the new facility, first dog play group, first group of cats living in the community cat room, and much more. Small, appropriately distanced tours will founder of Agape Dance Academy, is staging Nutcracker Ballet, Covid-style, as a movie to be viewed at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk drive-in theater shows the evenings of Dec. 18-20.

She hopes to create beautiful memories of triumphant times in the challenging year of 2020.

Rebecca Hallock is Clara, Ian McHatton is the Nutcracker Prince and Aly Ely is the Sugar Plum Fairy in this holiday production, which features dozens of dancers as be available by appointment starting in January.”

The new Santa Cruz SPCA facility is 7,092 square feet — nearly six times the size of the former site.

The shelter features 3,500 square feet of modern animal habitats that support best practices in animal rescue; multiple indoor and outdoor dog exercise areas; enclosed “catios” and a cat group room; dedicated dog and cat get-acquainted rooms; separate spaces for adoption and intake/surrender; dedicated isolation rooms for animal care and recovery; a 750-square-foot multipurpose community room; and 700 square feet for administrative use.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to express my profound gratitude to the extraordinary staff, volunteers, donors, and community members who made this day possible,” said Moira Gagen, Santa Cruz SPCA board president. “It’s been a very long journey, with many obstacles to overcome — from COVID-19 restrictions to

Agape Dance Academy’s Nutcracker Ballet at Boardwalk Drive-In

Melanie Useldinger,

unexpected site complications — but as ‘The sweets and gingersnaps and Rebecca Hallock is Clara, Ian McHatton is the Nutcracker Prince the famous Snow Waltz and and Aly Ely is the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Agape Ballet’s 2020 Waltz of the Flowers. Nutcracker movie.

Showtimes will be 5:30 p.m. Tickets, which are $45 per car at and again at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday https://events.eventgroove.com/event/ and Sunday. Nutcracker-At-The-Santa-Cruz-BeachBoardwalk-45565, and will benefit Jacob’s Heart and Agape Dance Foundation Inc. n ••• www.agapedance.com

Photos courtesy Santa Cruz SPCA The new Santa Cruz SPCA shelter, with its blue exterior, is easy to recognize.

Little Shelter That Could,’ we persevered through it all, and have finally arrived at this major new chapter in our history.”

The builder was Bogard Construction, Inc. of Santa Cruz. The architect was Animal Arts of Boulder, Colorado, a firm exclusively focused on design of animal care facilities.

Santa Cruz County approved the building permit application in January 2019. Groundbreaking took place the next month.

Construction was temporarily halted in spring 2020 due to COVID-19 protocols, then resumed under strict new protocols. The county completed all approvals and signed off on the project in November.

The Santa Cruz SPCA has a long history, dating to 1938 when Dr. Charles Edward Graves, the first veterinarian in the county to treat small animals, donated a piece of land for a shelter. n •••

Hours of the Santa Cruz SPCA shelter at 2601 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, are: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; closed Mondays. Phone: 831-465-5000. Website: www.spcasc.org