Manatee’s Bishop animal shelter upgrade is getting second UF review. Here’s why
After continued concerns from animal advocates, the Manatee Board of County Commissioners voted to bring the University of Florida back for an on-site analysis of the Bishop Animal Shelter.
Over the past several months, some residents have criticized the new $12 million Bishop expansion. In February, the board voted to seek the University of Florida’s Shelter Medicine Program’s advice as a third party.
During a March board meeting, county staff discussed the University of Florida’s findings, noting that the university recommended some changes, such as implementing sequential cleaning, the inclusion of electrical access to indoor kennel spaces and the installation of an additional interior spigot for cleaning.
The Bradenton Herald previously reported on the Bishop expansion, which includes eight prefabricated kennel buildings that increase the shelter’s capacity by about 120 dogs. It also featured several outdoor recreational areas for the dogs.
According to county staff, UF’s review did not reflect the concerns of the volunteers and animal advocates who have critiqued the shelter’s expansion for months, arguing that the kennels are unsafe and too small for the dogs.
But during a May 5 board meeting, commissioners and residents said the University of Florida did not actually visit Bradenton for the review, as it was done over a Zoom video call.
“Frankly, I’m not sure why it took public pressure to convince the county to request the first evaluation, which we learned after the fact was done via Zoom call,” Manatee County resident David Daniels said at the meeting. “A Zoom call that the county now claims was not even recorded, even though they produced a detailed written summary of that call.”
Second Bishop Animal Shelter review planned
The commissioners voted to bring the University of Florida back for an on-site review, and Commissioner George Kruse said that the plan was already in motion.
“This isn’t even really something that needs to be voted on,” Kruse said. “We’ll all vote in favor of it, because it’s already happening, before this showed up on our agenda.”
According to Kruse, when the University of Florida conducted its virtual review months ago, the county had already decided to bring them back for the second, in-person visit.
“At that time… They told us, per their travel schedule, the earliest they could come here would be end of summer. That’s what they told us months ago,” Kruse said. “So we had two options: wait until the end of summer, having no feedback whatsoever from the University of Florida, or do an interim Zoom call with them, which was better than nothing.”
Kruse said the county continues to implement measures suggested by the university in the Zoom call, such as bars under the fencing to prevent the dogs from getting out and additional spigots.
“You fully have my support to vote to continue doing what we were already doing,” Kruse said.
The University of Florida is expected to visit to the Bishop Animal Shelter, 5718 21st Ave. W., Bradenton, in August to complete its first in-person assessment of the shelter.
