It may look like a buzz of construction and ripped up asphalt, but the Eastside Animal Shelter is still open, and still available for reclaiming your pet or finding that new, forever-family member. Just because you see a chain link fence out front, blocking what used to be the entrance to the shelter or dirt where part of the parking lot used to be, doesn’t mean activity at the eastside shelter has come to a standstill.

You can still reclaim or drop off pets at the Intake Office, which is still on the south side of the building. And if you’re looking for that special pet for your family, the kennels and cattery are still open Tuesday through Sunday and unchanged in appearance since the start of construction. The only difference is that now, for any business, you just move 20 feet further south from the Intake Office through a chain link fence and up the stairs into the first modular unit you see.

Inside, you’ll find a lobby even more spacious than the one before, with customer service representatives waiting to take care of your needs--from adoptions and reclaims to licensing and microchipping. “The only thing we’re relocating from the Eastside Shelter is our veterinary service, which is moving to our Westside shelter” says Dr. John A. Romero, Associate Director of Albuquerque Animal Welfare.  “We have the same amount of staffing at the Eastside shelter to help you out, the same amount of animals, and the same level of service to take care of you.”

Customer Service is expected to move out of the modular units and into a new, improved, more spacious and customer-friendly lobby by the end of the year.