Springfield’s Animal Protective League hopes to erect temporary buildings at the site of its headquarters near the Illinois State Fairgrounds or move into a temporary location in the next three to six months after a June 10 tornado caused an estimated $1.2 million in damages.
“We just want everyone to know how grateful we are for all the support that we have gotten so far,” Deana Corbin, the APL’s executive director, told Illinois Times. “And that has meant so much to me, to the staff, and has really allowed us to continue to help people in this community, which is what we’re all about.”
The APL’s two main buildings – one for its offices and cat and dog shelter, and the other for spay and neuter procedures – were destroyed by the EF1 tornado, which moved across the property at 1001 Taintor Road shortly before midnight.
No people were present at the time, but about 155 animals were in cages and free-roaming rooms at the site in unincorporated Sangamon County, Corbin said.
A swift response by the staff and volunteers and luck resulted in all the animals – many of them too scared to make a sound – being removed from the site without any serious injuries amid torrential rain and pitch-black conditions.
The tornado tore off most of the roof of the one- and two-story shelter building and did extensive damage to the spay and neuter clinic building but didn’t affect an adjacent storage shed.
Since the incident, the site – home to the APL since 1997 – has been fenced off, and the 70-year-old nonprofit’s 42 full- and part-time employees have worked out of other areas at the site, their homes and elsewhere in the community. There have been no layoffs among the staff, which includes two full-time veterinarians and one part-time vet.
Despite the disruptions, animal adoptions have continued. The APL’s more than 150 volunteers have continued to help out, and the spay and neuter clinic is operating out of the Sangamon County Animal Control Center temporarily.
Animals are being housed in foster homes and in spare office space controlled by the Sangamon County Office of Emergency Management.
But Corbin said the need for a more permanent solution remains.
Animal shelters operated by APL, Sangamon County and organizations throughout the country have swelled in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic because of a variety of factors.
A reduction in sterilizations resulted in more unplanned dogs and cats, and rising rates of inflation made it more expensive to adopt and keep a pet, according to animal welfare groups. Staff members at APL and the county animal shelter have seen that trend locally.
Corbin, APL’s leader since 2009, said she doesn’t think the temporary reduction in shelter spaces has resulted in more animals being euthanized at the Animal Control Center. She said she keeps in frequent contact with the staff there on capacity issues at the center, which does euthanize animals. Jeanne Keenan, the Animal Control Center’s director of operations, agreed with Corbin’s assessment.
The APL, a $2.5 million-a-year organization, operated a no-kill, limited-admission shelter and accepted referrals from the county-operated shelter and other animal-welfare agencies within a 90-mile radius. Many of the other organizations transferred cats and dogs to the APL because the animals were sick or at risk of being euthanized because of limited space to care for them.
Some animals remain in APL’s care for years, but most are adopted within 30 to 90 days, Corbin said.
Donations to APL support the majority of the organization’s work, which includes a free pet food bank and reduced-price vaccines and sterilizations. Donations haven’t dropped off since the tornado, Corbin said.
The nonprofit still faces many challenges, though.
The Taintor Road site was fully insured, but Corbin said administrative hurdles connected with that insurance have delayed progress on tearing down the damaged buildings, which are smelly, a safety hazard and an impediment to any future construction at the site.
Corbin and other APL officials are working with contractors on the question of whether temporary buildings could be moved to, or built at, the site to house animals and other APL functions.
“It takes a whole team to kind of try and figure out because there’s not just one quick easy solution, unfortunately,” she said.
Insurance will cover any temporary buildings, but Corbin said a multimillion-dollar capital campaign, which the APL was considering to replace outdated facilities before the tornado hit, will be needed for a full rebuild. APL officials haven’t announced any specifics of a capital campaign yet.
Corbin characterized the time period since the tornado as chaotic:
“Every day is a different challenge or crisis to solve – whether it’s, ‘How do we help Animal Control?’ to ‘When are we going to get these buildings torn down?’ and ‘Where are we going to move temporarily?’”
Any solution that APL comes up with will help the constantly full Sangamon County Animal Control Center, Keenan said. The county site has about 90 dog kennels, 85 cat kennels and a free-roam cat room for eight or nine cats, she said.
The county’s “open-access” shelter doesn’t turn away strays, including the box of eight 9-week-old puppies found dumped along the side of Mason Street in Springfield on Oct. 5. That type of scenario plays out almost weekly, Keenan said.
The crowded situation at the county shelter became even more overwhelming after the APL shelter’s closure, Keenan said.
“Now it’s just us,” she said. “Anything is going to help.”
