Pasadena Animal Shelter reopens for the first time in over a year after EF-3 Tornado

The Pasadena Animal Shelter re-opened its doors for the first time in more than a year at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday.

The shelter has completed extensive repairs after its roof was ripped off by an EF-3 tornado that tore through parts of Pasadena and Deer Park last year in January. The shelter was at roughly 30% capacity during the past year.

Melissa Clark is the Manager of Animal Control and Adoption at the shelter. She said some employees were inside the shelter when the tornado passed by.

“They were having to run through the kennels to get to a place where they would be safe,” she said.

Clark said the facility is now more sturdy in the event of another powerful storm. She said the shelter also received a facelift that included sound suppression.

“It’s very noisy in the kennels, so it helps with some sound suppression, to make it a little bit easier to walk through,” she said. “Also for them because it helps them to keep from being so stressed.”

Clark said now that the shelter is back to its regular capacity, it can take about 160 dogs and 60 cats.

The shelter will have its official grand opening on Saturday for the public, but will be open throughout the week as well.