Animal shelter breaks ground on $10 million expansion

BRADENTON — Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue, a nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter and adoption center on Lorraine Road in Lakewood Ranch, recently broke ground on a yearlong campus expansion project.

The expansion of the eight-acre campus is being funded by a $10 million capital campaign called Journey Home, according to a press release. Nate’s Honor is currently at 70% of its fundraising goal.

The groundbreaking included a ceremonial dig led by a dog rescued from the Bahamas.

The planned expansion includes three new buildings totaling over 30,000 square feet — a 20,000-square-foot welcome center, a separate intake building that will be used to quarantine new animals, and a behavior and training center.

In addition to serving as a place to socialize with potential pets, the welcome center will include a veterinary clinic, indoor/outdoor cat habitat and event rooms. Other campus improvements include a new dog pool and patio, walking trail to help dogs learn to walk on a leash, fenced play area and eight more dog cottages.

The changes will double capacity for dogs and increase capacity for cats by 25%, allowing Nate’s Honor to save about 4,500 animals annually, compared to the 2,000 it has saved so far for 2019.

“Our daily challenge of saving the lives of at-risk animals is greater than ever, and we’ve simply outgrown the existing physical capacity," says Nate's Honor Animal Rescue Director of Development Rob Oglesby in the statement. "This expansion will allow us to save twice as many lives each year and provide quality education programs for the community.”