Stamford Animal Shelter Toasty Thanks to Community Outpouring

The Stamford Animal Care & Control Shelter is now quite toasty, thanks to some concerned and caring residents from around the region.

Shelter Director Laurie Hollywood sent out a request to Outreach to Pets in Need (OPiN) and a few other associates asking if there were any space heaters lying around the shelter could utilize as dropping temperatures were making it difficult to keep the old, concrete building warm with just their current heating system.

The request reached social media—even hitting the petition organization site Change.org with a call for Mayor David Martin to take notice of the conditions there. And then, Hollywood said, the space heaters started pouring in.

"I've now got more than I know what to do with," Hollywood said. "We have 12 now, with another 30 people offering to bring them in, some all the way from Norwalk. The phone was ringing off the hook."

Hollywood said the dogs all have coats and blankets in their spaces and the kennel is a balmy 64 degrees at either end and 62 degrees in the center. The crew has even changed the kennel cleaning operations from the normal method of putting them outside and hitting them all at once to cleaning one cage at a time by moving a single dog to an empty cage, cleaning the open cage and then putting the dog back before moving on to the next one.

"They're not freezing to death and their teeth aren't chattering," Hollywood said. "We just needed some heating for a couple of days because it's an older, concrete building and when it gets really cold, it can be hard to keep it warm. It was not as dire as some of the posts making the rounds made it seem."

Hollywood said the Mayor's Office had even called to check in on how operations were going and make sure the kennel had enough heat because they were also receiving calls. For now, she said, they're all set (though they could use a few more Pit Bull-sized dog coats.)

"It was great people responded," Hollywood said. "I just want to say thank you to the community for their concern and donations."