AC failures at Gulf Coast Humane Society is latest scourge after COVID, housing and rent issues

The dog days of summer have been sweltering for the Gulf Coast Humane Society.

Three air conditioners at the no-kill shelter wheezed their final breaths in the past 10 days, putting an unexpected financial burden on the non-profit.

Gulf Coast is asking the public to help offset the more than $40,000 cost to get new air conditioners.

“I’ve been here almost seven years and every time something like this occurs the community steps up,” said Brian Wierima, community relations coordinator.

The ultimate goal is to get the air conditioners paid for through donations, he said, because the money isn’t in the budget.

The air conditioning problems began June 23.

“Two went out back-to-back,” Wierima said.

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Both units, five tons each, stopped working in the kennel area called the Cove.

Workers used window units, but they weren’t enough to defeat the 90 plus degree temperatures.

Temperatures reached 80 degrees in the kennels when workers started moving the dogs to the Club kennel and the intake kennel.

The Cove holds 23 dogs, the Club 26 and intake 30.

Then July 21, one of the units in the Club kennel quit.

Gulf Coast Human Society

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The two units in the Cove were eight-years-old, said Gary Willoughby, executive director. The unit in the Club was five-years-old.

The one AC still working was enough to keep the Club kennels cool, so those dogs didn’t have to be moved, Wierima said.

The two new units in the Cove were installed Wednesday. The unit in the Club should arrive next week, Willoughby said.

The broken air conditioners didn’t just affect Gulf Coast, Willoughby said.

“That impacts not only our ability to care for the dogs and cats who are here, but other groups in the region rely on us to transfer dogs and cats from them to put up for adoption.”

The air conditioners failing was the latest obstacle the humane society has had to hurdle.

“I would say it’s been a challenging three years since Covid,” Wierima said.

The housing crisis followed Covid, people were surrendering their pets in large numbers because their homes were foreclosed on. Some apartments wouldn’t allow people to take their pets; other apartments charged exorbitant fees for people to have animals.

Then came Hurricane Ian last September. It shook the campus like a rag doll.

Parts of the campus had no power and water. The roof was damaged and had to be replaced.

They lost all their vaccines at the Swamp Cabbage Court clinic because the generator ran out of propane and there was no propane available to refill it, Willoughby said.

Gulf Coast had to transfer over 130 animals to other shelters two days after the hurricane.

Then adoptions were way down and surrenders were way up.

“It was a double whammy,” Wierima said.

To donate

If you would like to donate to the Gulf Coast Humane Society to help pay for their new air conditioners or to help with other needs go to here or here.

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WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.