New Animal Shelter Opens in Bloomingdale

The cut the ribbon Saturday on its new animal shelter, the North Jersey Community Animal Shelter.

The shelter, which replaces the former Bloomingdale Regional Animal Shelter Society (BASS) shelter at 23 Brandt Lane, has technically been operational since late February when the borough decided to run animal sheltering services in-house after . It is run by the borough's Animal Control Office (ACO), which includes officers Lisa Perry, Jennifer Adams and Kaitlyn Kopshaw, and volunteers.

Perry said since opening, approximately 40 cats and 25 dogs have been sheltered. Currently, there are about 20 cats at the shelter and four dogs, three of which were surrendered by their owners and one a stray. Perry said the shelter is not currently holding any rescue animals.

The facility has seen some changes since changing operators, in addition to its name. Perry said the ACO has moved back to the property after being temporarily relocated to the old  (DPW) building on Union Avenue since the tropical storm from Hurricane Irene left the building damaged. The DPW employees helped to restore the facility on Brandt Lane so that ACO could return and also so that the shelter could be utilized again by the borough.

"I really want to give kudos to the DPW, they've been working very hard," she said.

Perry also said the animal shelter has been community focused, as opposed to taking in rescues from other areas, while it continues to serve Bloomingdale, , Ringwood, Wanaque, Pompton Lakes, Riverdale and North Caldwell.

"We have the animals from our community only," she said.

The shelter has already received a fair amount of offered help, Perry said.

"We've had a lot of volunteers call," she said. "We have some experienced people and we have just a lot of people who want to contribute and we welcome people."

The shelter will be celebrating a more formal grand opening in June.

To adopt an animal or learn more about adoption fees, call 973-850-6767 or see the pets  available for adoption, click here.