South Elgin animal shelter, Elburn wildlife center merge

Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin and Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn have merged with the goal of expanding their efforts to save animals.

The new entity is named Anderson Humane Center and "will be designed to connect people with animals in mutually beneficial ways," Anderson CEO Beth Foster said in a video posted on the websites of both nonprofits.

The animal shelter has $3.1 million or so in annual operations and the wildlife center has an annual budget of about $200,000, Foster said Tuesday. "One of the benefits of them merging with a larger organization like ours is that we can do things like offer their staff benefits and things that a smaller organization can't do," she said.

Andrea Kruger, board president for Fox Valley Wildlife Center, didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Anderson Animal Shelter has been working on plans to move and expand services including for birds, small critters and hooved animals, but its officials have declined to discuss that publicly.

At one point, promotional materials had identified land by Route 38 and LaFox Road, near Campton Hills, but that location was scrapped, Foster said Tuesday.

Instead, the shelter has purchased 124 acres elsewhere in Kane County, Foster said, declining to say more.

"We are designing and planning," she said, adding that more information will be disclosed during the shelter's "Better Together" virtual gala April 18. The event atandersonanimalshelter.orgwill include an online auction starting Saturday and ending at 6 p.m. April 18.

It's been challenging to organize a fundraiser with the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the hope is that people will respond to the call to help out the new Anderson Humane Center initiative, Foster said.

"The fundraiser is really necessary so we can really continue saving the lives of these babies and adult animals," she said.

Because of the pandemic, the animal shelter shut down its adoption services in South Elgin and at satellite locations in Bloomingdale and North Aurora, but was able to adopt out or place in foster homes all its animals except seven dogs with behavioral issues, Foster said.

The shelter continues to take in animals on an emergency basis. Many already have been placed in homes, with 10 to 12 dogs currently at the shelter, she said.

The animal shelter and the wildlife center both have stopped working with volunteers as a precaution, and animal shelter staff members have been helping out at the wildlife center, which is very busy now during "baby season," Foster said.

"One of the interesting outcomes so far of this COVID-19 situation is that our two sets of staff are getting to know each other really well because they are literally working alongside each other," she said.