Twenty-three puppies were welcomed to the coolest room in the Alachua County Humane Society.
The shelter received the new dogs on Wednesday after installing a permanent air-conditioning system in its puppy room. The shelter was not able to accept any puppies for two weeks pending the unit’s installation, said Danielle Cummings, a 24-year-old development coordinator at the humane society.
The society relocated its puppies to foster homes because the room’s standing air conditioning unit stopped working, Cummings said.
The unit, which had been used since June, was not suitable for the room’s layout, Cummings said. Before the portable air-conditioning unit was installed, the shelter did not have a way to cool the puppies other than leaving the door open.
Cummings said even after the standing unit was installed, the room got hot, muggy and attracted bugs.
The shelter needed $1,500 for a permanent air conditioning unit. They raised over eight times more than they needed, roughly $8,500 from about 100 people as of Monday, through a newsletter and its Facebook page, Cummings said.
“We had an outpour of donations through our website during that time,” she said.
The new air conditioning unit is suited for the window-less puppy room. It does not need to attach to a window to filter air, Cummings said.
Excess funds will be used to prepare new puppies for adoption and continued facility improvements, she said. Fourteen puppies came Wednesday from an overcrowded animal shelter in Live Oak, and another nine came Thursday from the Taylor County Animal Control, Cummings said.
“They will be vaccinated, microchipped, sterilized, and then they’ll be ready to go to loving homes pretty soon,” she said.
Melissa DeSa, a 39-year-old Gainesville resident, said she has fostered animals ever since she was a little girl. She donated to the humane society’s recent fundraiser.
“I feel really grateful for them and know how hard their job is trying to be a no-kill shelter,” DeSa said.
