水果派AV

Auburn Public Theater will host the eighth annual New York State Dog Film Festival on Thursday, followed by the sixth annual New York State Cat Film Festival on Friday. Each will feature several pet-focused short films. In "Deborah" a woman shares her love of her rescued cocker spaniels, for instance, and "Moose Gets a Bath" documents a small kitten's rescue from a vacant home in Baltimore.

Tickets to the 1 and 7 p.m. film festivals are $10, and a portion of proceeds will support the Finger Lakes SPCA of CNY as it approaches a $700,000 renovation of its 41 York St. facility.

The shelter's executive director, Nicholas Lapresi, told 水果派AV on Wednesday that he's currently working with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets to finalize contracts before the renovation begins. The state's Companion Animal Capital Fund has awarded the shelter $482,491.50 to fund it, with the rest coming from a capital campaign and grants from local foundations.

The budget for the renovation has increased, Lapresi said, due to electrical upgrades that will be needed to install a generator and new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Because the shelter is 70 years old, he continued, it also has "question marks" like its concrete slab. Depending on whether it's 6 inches or a foot deep, the shelter could be looking at double the time to remove it.聽

Regardless, Lapresi hopes the renovation can begin soon. It will include larger, quieter dog kennels, and the HVAC systems will be part of improved temperature control for the shelter's animals.

Proceeds from the film festivals, however, will support other improvements at the shelter. Lapresi said they include new equipment in the surgery and grooming rooms, such as a new bathtub with a ramp for geriatric pets in the latter. He also hopes to purchase an industrial dish washer, and washers and dryers, so staff won't have to spend as much time washing items like food bowls and bedding.

"We want to take that extra time and put it back into the animals and their care," Lapresi said.聽

Adoption rates at the Auburn shelter doubled in 2023 over 2022, the executive director said. Dogs are close to capacity at the moment, but cats are "fuller than ever" due to a humane law enforcement call last month that saw the shelter rescue 23 of them from a residence with poor living conditions in Auburn. The cats are currently being spayed and neutered, and receiving medical care, Lapresi said.聽

By this time next year, he hopes the shelter's dogs and cats are living in even better conditions at a renovated and fully equipped facility.

"One way or the other the renovations are going to get completed," Lapresi said. "I'm told things are moving."