A longtime Santa Barbara County Animal Services volunteer holds 2-month old Biscuit, a male, gray domestic shorthair available for adoption at the Lompoc Animal Shelter on Friday.
Lompoc's animal shelter reopened to the public Friday after three years of closure. The facility now offers limited services including cat and rabbit adoptions.
Santa Barbara County Animal Services Director Sarah Aguilar points to a television screen found at the Lompoc shelter that features a rotating photo library of pets available for adoption in this Jan. 6 file photo.Â
The public can access Animal Services information and conduct inquiries into pet adoptions via two computers located at the Lompoc shelter. Hours of operation are Friday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.Â
A longtime Santa Barbara County Animal Services volunteer holds 2-month old Biscuit, a male, gray domestic shorthair available for adoption at the Lompoc Animal Shelter on Friday.
Santa Barbara County Animal Services Director Sarah Aguilar points to a television screen found at the Lompoc shelter that features a rotating photo library of pets available for adoption in this Jan. 6 file photo.Â
The public can access Animal Services information and conduct inquiries into pet adoptions via two computers located at the Lompoc shelter. Hours of operation are Friday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.Â
Lompoc's animal shelter on Friday officially reopened to pets — and people — after nearly three years of closure due to a faltering volunteer program catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Â
While the shelter is not back to a full-service operation, Santa Barbara County Animal Services Director Sarah Aguilar said it's off to a great start.
"We're trying to pilot and figure out the benefit of this new program to the community, being open both afternoon and evening hours," she said. "So we figured, 'let's open and see what happens.'"Â
Pet owners and those interested in becoming one, can now access limited services at the Santa Barbara County Animal Services Lompoc shelter on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Some services offered on-site are lost pet reunification, foster pet support, microchipping, volunteer opportunities, license sales and renewals and pet adoption.
Lompoc's animal shelter reopened to the public Friday after three years of closure. The facility now offers limited services including cat and rabbit adoptions.
Though the infrastructure to house dogs long-term isn't up to snuff, comfortable indoor holding spaces are currently populated with rabbits and cats available for adoption.
Those interested in adopting can also access assistance at the Lompoc shelter where support personnel are on-hand and a centralized digital library of adoptable pets is showcased on the County's website that is accessible via on-site computers available for use by the public.
Potential adopters can peruse the adoptable pets library and make an appointment to visit the animal that is housed at either the Santa Barbara or Santa Maria shelter.
Aguilar said within a month officials should know whether or not the new program is useful to Lompoc residents.
"But I'm pretty sure it's going to work," she noted, "like 99% sure."
In fact, within hours of reopening on Friday, Aguilar said that a lost dog was brought to the facility and reunified with its owner in an hour, circumventing the Santa Maria shelter where lost pets found in Lompoc are driven to Santa Maria for eventual reunification that requires owners to make the drive north.
"If you lose or found a pet, you can easily find it here and can take them back home," Aguilar added.
The initial reopening is considered to be a Phase I initiative, with later plans to roll out Phase II that would bring the shelter back to full operations with help from local nonprofit Companion Animal Placement Assistance.
The local nonprofit, according to Aguilar, is fully invested in helping the shelter rebuild its kennel infrastructure for safely housing animals for adoptions.
The second phase, however, is dependent on a healthy volunteer program on which the facility relies.Â
"The sooner we can rebuild the volunteer program, the sooner we can [fully] reopen," she said, appealing to the public. "Help us get back to having pets here all the time."
A new monthly report summarizing operations and data and comparing them to the same month the previous year has been unveiled by Santa Barbara County Division of Animal Services.
The city of Lompoc will continue outsourcing animal services to Santa Barbara County after City Council members voted 4-1 to sign a five-year agreement despite rising costs associated with those services.
