News

Animal Friends has been located in the most improbable of places -- the Strip District -- since the organization was founded in 1943.

"This has been a great location," said shelter spokeswoman Kathy Beaver. "But we are sort of in a concrete jungle here, where there is little space and property is costly."

The group plans to move most of its operations to a 14-acre a site off Camp Horne Road, between the Giant Eagle and Avonworth Community Park, in Ohio Township.

The open space will help present a different image of animal shelters, Beaver said.

"The whole idea of the Ohio Township site is that it will be a community resource," she said, "Many people do not even like to go into animal shelters."

Plans are to include more than a mile of trails, where dogs can be walked, Beaver said.

"Many places and parks are restricting dog walking," she said. "We hope this turns into a real resource for residents of the North Hills and beyond."

Animal Friends paid $400,000 for the land two years ago, said Ohio Township Manager John Sullivan. The organization has to get approval for the site, which has an abandoned home on it.

"I think it's a pretty good organization," Sullivan said. "They have been around for a long time and we are happy to have them moving in here."

To move, Animal Friends anticipates having to raise $6.35 million. The organization has already raised $2.5 million, much of it from the Pittsburgh Foundation and PNC Bank, which sponsors a black-tie fund-raising dinner for Animal Friends each year.

Animal Friends, one of three shelters in Pittsburgh, is a "no-kill shelter."

Animals are put down only if there is no quality of life or if the animal poses a public health risk, shelter officials say.

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News