The contract between Fresno County and the Central California SPCA has expired.
The temporary shelter at the old county morgue is now housing animals for Fresno County.
Crews are still working on the conversion but the facility is able to take some animals now.
County Supervisor Henry Perea gave CBS47 a tour of the grounds over the weekend and showed where more canopies would be added to provide shade and fans installed to keep the animals cool.
The facility will be able to house more than a hundred animals at a time but they won't be confined very long because the plan is to quickly rotate them out. "We're going to rely quite heavily on the rescue community to come in and help us turn these animals back out to the community and into homes that will care for them," said Supervisor Perea.
Liberty Animal Control Services holds the contract. It has an administration office, medical facility and a couple of trucks in place.
The county's priority will be to deal with vicious animals.
David Pomaville with Fresno County Environmental Health said, "We will take all bite reports and follow up on any concerns that people may have with regard to contracting diseases such as rabies."
THE SPCA chose to have an exclusive 6-month contract with the City of Fresno, ending its 50 year long partnership with the county.
Beth Caffrey with the Central California SPCA said, "Probably going to be a little stressful for the community. We do have our call center here, so our call center is going to be setup to answer your questions and help direct you and everything else."
Although there is still work to be done at the new county facility, Supervisor Perea is not worried. "It's run and gun from our perspective. We're going to be ready to go. Is it a Cadillac version? No, it's not, but we're looking at the future - we're looking to the future," said Perea.
