Official Opening of Upgraded Animal Management Facility

AMF
From left, Department of Justice and Attorney-General Director-General David Mackie, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, Mayor Joyce McCulloch, Councillor Paul Stretton and Councillor Peta MacRae at the Animal Management Facility.

Published: 23rd January 2020

Council has delivered on its vision to provide a modern, state-of-the-art Animal Management Facility to the community, with the facility set to officially open on Saturday, February 8, following the recent completion of more than $800,000 worth of upgrade works.

The Open Day will be held from 9am to 11am at the Facility, at 21 Richardson Road, and will include tours of the facility, animals for adoption and free bacon-and-egg burgers.

The Facility’s upgrade includes the construction of a new administration building, animal-treatment clinic, dog exercise yard, stock-holding area and receiving bay, the installation of new fencing and automatic gates, landscaping, and the sealing of the new carpark and driveways.

Extensions have been built to many of the dog pens, which will assist staff members with cleaning as well as increasing floor space for the dogs.

A water-misting system installed in the cat-holding area to keep them cooler during the hotter months will also soon be installed in the dog-holding area.

The $845,000 project was completely funded by the State Government’s Works For Queensland program and began in May last year. It was completed late last year.

Mayor Joyce McCulloch said she was very pleased with the end result, and the upgraded and refreshed facility will better serve the needs of the community for many years to come.

“The upgrade project really brought this facility into the 21st Century and it looks fantastic,” Cr McCulloch said.

“It was important to us that the facility was modernised and improved to a high standard and met community expectations, and I believe this upgrade has achieved that objective.

“I’m confident the Animal Management Facility’s customers will be impressed with the new, larger administration building and all of the new amenities that the facility now features.”

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath toured the Facility on Tuesday afternoon, January 21, and said she was very impressed with the improvements that had been made thanks to the Works for Queensland funding program.

“There is no question that the $845,000 has gone a long way in this community to provide a better environment for the animals, but also to make it more accessible to the community,” Ms D’Ath said.

The facility is open from 9am to 10am, and from 3.30pm to 4.30pm, from Monday to Friday. There are plans to significantly increase its opening hours in the very near future.

“I’m really pleased to hear it means extended hours, which means more people can come in and hopefully adopt an animal,” Ms D’Ath said.

Minister for Local Government Stirling Hinchliffe MP congratulated Mayor Joyce McCulloch on creating a facility which delivers priority infrastructure, gives a genuine boost to the local economy and offers more humane care of lost and abandoned pets.

“It is a great example of the two levels of government working together for the local community,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

“I am so proud of the Works for Queensland program which has supported Mount Isa council with more than $8,900,000 which created or supported over 200 jobs in the first two rounds and council estimates a further 128 jobs will be created in the third, 2019-21 round of Works for Queensland.”

For more information, visit https://www.mountisa.qld.gov.au/event-information-and-forms