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Anderson Animal Shelter temporarlily moves to Batavia

The residents of Anderson Animal Shelter will be migrating south this week, temporarily relocated to Batavia while the South Elgin location is renovated.

The animals will still be available for adoption.

The project was hatched in May when Beth Drake took over as Anderson's executive director.

The animals will be staying either at foster homes or at 122 W. Wilson St. in Batavia during the renovation, which is expected to be complete the middle of October.

Part of the project includes new cages to replace the current ones, some of which are 40 years old.

"We know how to house these animals better now, so we need to do that," said Drake.

The floor and ceiling in South Elgin will also be redone.

Drake said a better environment makes for a happy animal, which makes it much more likely that it will be adopted. "This is going to make a huge difference in the number of adoptions," she said.

The shelter, which has housed as many as 200 cats and up to 40 dogs, has significantly reduced those numbers through adoption and the use of foster homes. Drake says the shelter now has about 20 cats on location with the rest in foster homes.

BEI Properties in Batavia is allowing Anderson to use its location, which Drake says is making the entire project possible.

Drake also praised shelter volunteers.

"I don't think that we could do it without them," she said.

  Anderson Animal Shelter Executive Director Beth Drake explains how the shelter's temporary location at 122 W. Wilson St. in Batavia will be set up. The South Elgin shelter is moving to temporary headquarters on Wilson Street in Batavia while its current location is refurbished, which is slated to be finished in the middle to end of October. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
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