MIDDLEBURG, Fla. — A number of leaders in Clay County came to see the ground broken on the new animal shelter opening in Middleburg. A feeling shared among many of them: it’s been a long time coming.
“The reality is, the need has outgrown our current animal shelter,” said Ernest Hagan, director of Clay County Animal Services.
One of the last times Action News Jax told you about the struggles the county has been having at its current animal shelter in Green Cove Springs was last spring, when the county described its lack of shelter space for animals in need and staff to support them as a ‘desperate’ situation.
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Hagan told Action News Jax on Tuesday that this has been an issue the shelter has faced for decades, since it was first built back in the 1960s. He said there’s been an ongoing effort for more than 15 years to replace the shelter, especially because of its risk of getting flooded.
“Black Creek has always run behind the shelter and that’s always been a threat,” Hagan said, “not having that threat will be a godsend to us.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the shelter’s current location on State Road 16 West in Green Cove Springs is right in the middle of a flood risk zone. The new shelter location in Middleburg, at the intersection of County Road 220 and Sleepy Hollow Road, per FEMA’s Flood Zone maps, is not in an area of flood risk.
“Not only during hurricanes do we have to move our animals, but we also have to take into account bringing in other animals as well,” said Hagan, “this new location will eliminate that problem for having to find extra space and we can create more emergency shelters.”
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Clay County Animal Services says the new shelter cost around $21 million. $1 million of that money is coming from Chewy Health, in partnership with Lincoln Memorial University, a Tennessee-based private school working on a new veterinary school in Orange Park, which the school says will make use of the new shelter as a hands-on learning space for students.
The county, through the new shelter, is also opening up a new donation service as it works on the new shelter, which is set to open in late 2026. The new service allows anyone to purchase a decorative paw print with a customizable engraving to be displayed in the shelter, with the proceeds going toward the work done through Clay County Animal Services.
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