Thanks to county founding and a generous grant, the Flathead County Animal Shelter is poised to break ground next month on an improved operatory addition for veterinary services.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals donated $50,000 to the shelter as part of its Northern Tier Shelter Initiative Grants. The grant will be used for medical equipment inside the addition.

Flathead County commissioners this week accepted a $190,000 bid for the building project. With the grant, the total cost of the addition will be around $240,000.

Flathead County Animal Shelter Director Cliff Bennett said the grant and county funding would go a long way toward improving conditions for veterinarians and animals.

“We’re adding onto the back of the building and replacing our veterinary trailer,” Bennett said. “In the past few years that has been hard to heat. It hasn’t been updated in 10 years and it makes some real tough conditions for our vets. The grant in particular is for the equipment in a nice, clean surgical suite there.”

The addition of 32 feet to the back of the animal shelter will provide a warm, clean space for the doctors.

The shelter takes in between 1,500 and 2,000 animals every year and the majority of those need to be spayed or neutered (a requirement for adoptable cats and dogs at the shelter).

Other medical needs of the animals, such as surgeries, vaccinations and clinical examinations, were performed in the trailer, making for cold conditions in the winter.

The project — which was helped along by some stopgap money from Flathead Shelter Friends, Bennett said — is set to break ground before the end of June.

The current 28-foot-long veterinary trailer will be removed but not dismantled. “We are going to try to keep the trailer as is,” Bennett said. “It could be a great emergency vehicle in case something big happens.”

The Northern Tier grants go to shelters in northern states, from Alaska down to Washington and over to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.