PORT ST. LUCIE — For years, people in Port St. Lucie who couldn’t bear to leave their pets during a hurricane found themselves with nowhere to go.

Many pet owners faced the storm at home, only to be rescued later from flooded and damaged homes. A few even fled to city hall, crowding animals into spaces intended for people.

“We know from experience that if you don’t deal with the pets people won’t leave their house and then you have a people problem not a pet problem,” said Ed Cunningham, a city spokesman.

City officials hope to alleviate that problem next year with the opening of the city’s first pet-friendly shelter in the Ravenswood Recreation Center, which is being rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

The renovated building also will include an emergency operations center for the city and a college classroom for use by Indian River State College. A new fire station will be built on an adjoining piece of property, said Kevin Hempel, construction manager for the city.

The cost of the entire complex is estimated to be about $4 million, he said.

Of St. Lucie’s neighbors, only Palm Beach County has a shelter available for pets and people. The shelter is in a gymnasium at the West Boynton Recreation Center in Lake Worth.

Martin County contracts with the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast to shelter pets, but not people, during a hurricane. County officials looked into using a school site in Port Salerno for a pet-friendly shelter, but it didn’t meet required standards, said David Graham, a county spokesman.

County officials aren’t pursuing other options at this point, he said.
Port St. Lucie has tried for years to build a pet-friendly shelter.

They thought to use a school as one, but concerns about liability and damage prompted school district and city officials to back away from the idea.

They settled on the Ravenswood Recreation Center nearly two years ago. Construction is expected to start before Thanksgiving; it will take an estimated eight to 10 months, Hempel said.

He could not specify how many animals the new center would accommodate.

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