The dogs and cats of the Central Alabama Animal shelter seemed thrilled to be out of the old and decrepid trailer they used to call home.

Teresa Martin, operations manager for the shelter, said the pets enjoyed the opportunity to be outside yesterday but did not like all the noise workers made as the 40-year-old trailer was removed and replaced by a newer one.

People’s Bank donated a trailer to the animal shelter to temporarily house the animals until a planned new building is complete. The new animal shelter will be located on Medical Center

Parkway.

“We hope to be in the new building in a year or less,” Martin said.

Conditions were so bad in the old animal shelter that the people interested in adopting a pet had to step over holes in the flooring to view the dogs and cats.

“Every time it rained, water would run down the walls,” Martin said. “When the workers moved a brick wall surronding the old trailer, the floor fell about two inches.”

The older trailer

also had several plywood boards covering the the front door and windows where vandalls had attempted to break in.

“That place was in such bad shape that you could push on the door frame and it would swing out about four inches,” Martin said.

Currently, the three employees of the shelter have around 20 cats and 25 dogs in their care. The animals are being held in cages outside of the building until space can be made for them in the new temporary trailer.

The animal shelter, located on highway 80, is scheduled to reopen for business on Jan. 14.