Holli Hargrove walked through the skinny hallway at the back of the Missoula Animal Control lobby to check on rows of kittens that live in mobile crates on the left side of the room. As the city-county Animal Control manager, she has seen the shelter take in more and more animals over the years. But the space is now so cramped, they're spilling out into the employee work room and hallways.
"You start to get too many animals in a space, and it's stressful, and stress leads to illness and cross-contamination," Hargrove told the Missoulian during a July 2 site visit. "The animals don't enjoy the overcrowding, either." Missoula County Animal Control is in the process of securing $3.
5 million to double the size of its building, creating more space for small animals and cats, allowing dogs to have access to the outdoors from their kennels and providing an additional area for the public to meet their future pets. Animal Control Manager Holli Hargrove holds a kitten in quarantine at Missoula County Animal Control on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. The project has been in development since 2019 with help from the Shelter Vet Medicine program at the University of Wisconsin, which develops standard levels of care for shelter animals.
Missoula County has already approved its portion of funding for the project, while the shelter has raised more than $200,000 in private donations. Animal Control is now requesting around $142,000 annually from the city starting in fiscal year 2026, but donations and.
