In the end, shelter is a loss to all
Time is almost up for the Animal Rescue League of Boston's Pembroke Animal Care and Adoption Center on Route 53. It has stopped accepting animals, and by Tuesday its remaining resident, a German shepherd named Sakeea, will have been adopted or relocated to another shelter, and the staff will have cleaned the kennels one last time.
Less than five years after opening what many considered a model shelter facility, the league is putting the $7 million property up for sale or rent, hoping to plug what the organization says has been a drain on its resources.
But coming after such a brief period of operation after the eight years it took to bring the 18,000-square-foot facility into existence, the league's decision has disappointed many area residents, animal advocates, and town officials. Some question whether the group, which also has shelters in Boston, Dedham, and Brewster, has made the right call in shutting down its top facility and best managed its multimillion-dollar endowment.
"A lot of people are upset," said Pembroke Selectman Robert F. DeMarzo. "I'm astounded. Here you have an organization running a million dollars in the red. To me, that's mismanagement. I just don't understand."
Given the league's $80 million endowment, he said, "somehow you'd think they could find the money to keep it going."
League officials have said the organization's finances were hit hard by the market downturn in late 2001, which also affected its plans to build a similar state-of-the-art shelter in Ipswich. The league's endowment lost an estimated $20 million between 2002 and 2006, league officials said, and if losses continued at that rate, the entire endowment could be depleted in 13 years.
But the league said the decision to close the Pembroke shelter is also tied to its change of strategy in providing animal welfare services. Under new leadership, the league is shifting its focus toward providing more mobile services, instead of brick-and-mortar facilities.
Asked to comment on the league's management of the Pembroke facility, spokesman Christopher Smalley said, "I think our website spells out clearly the reasons for closing the shelter."
The league will continue to provide spay and neuter programs and assign law enforcement officers to this area, Smalley said. The organization recently used a $50,000 grant from the American Humane Association to buy a trailer that can facilitate mobile adoptions. "The league will continue to have a presence on the South Shore after the building closes," Smalley said.
Last year, the league's mobile spay/neuter vehicle, known as the Spay Waggin', served 2,081 animals across the state, and 475 of the procedures took place in the South Shore area. The league plans to put a second such vehicle on the road by 2008.
"There's such a great need for these services," said Smalley.
Meredith & Grew, a Boston-based real estate firm, is handling the marketing of the 9-acre property in Pembroke, which includes the shelter and a single-family house, according to Smalley. The league has no plans to sell its adjoining 60-acre nature sanctuary and dog walk, which will remain open to the public, he said.
The long effort to build the facility was not without controversy. The league bought the land in 1994, using part of a bequest from Frederick W. Potter Jr. of Dover, who donated $1.4 million to the organization after his death.
In his will, which is filed in Norfolk Probate and Family Court in Canton, Potter stated that his gift was "for the perpetuation and protection of land and animal life . . . primarily for their own intrinsic value within nature."
Most of Potter's money is still maintained by the league as an endowment, estimated to be worth $4.5 million.
By October 1997, the league's director of operations was living in the Cape-style house with his family, even though the league had not started building the shelter. The Pembroke Board of Assessors questioned the group's charitable plans for the land, and rescinded the property's tax-exempt status.
In 2000, as the shelter construction project got underway, the organization reported a $3 million operating deficit and $3 million in investment losses.
But until that point, the financial markets were strong, and league officials said they expected their endowment to grow accordingly. In 1999, the league's operating budget was in the black and its net assets and funds had grown to $116 million.
The Pembroke shelter was completed in June 2002, at a total cost of approximately $7 million. It was considered a model for modern animal facilities, drawing visitors, including animal shelter architects, from across the country. Regionally, it quickly became known as one of the best and largest shelters.
But by then, the league was operating in the red and pulling back on its building plans.
In December 2002, the league spent $1.7 million to buy land in Ipswich to develop a new shelter, similar to the one in Pembroke. It received a special permit from Ipswich town officials, and it closed its Salem shelter the following year, saying the sale of the Salem property would help finance the new shelter in Ipswich. But the new shelter never got off the ground. The league still owns the Ipswich property.
By the time the organization sold its Salem property in 2005, it had started on its new course. The nonprofit's longtime president, Arthur G. Slade, retired after heading the league for more than 28 years.
Jay Bowen, who was then vice president of development at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was chosen as Slade's successor. A Belmont native and experienced fund-raiser, he became president of the league in December 2005 .
Recently, the league has been shopping around its Boston headquarters, on Chandler Street in the South End, to a developer who could buy the property and redevelop it into a new animal shelter with pet-friendly condominiums above it.
Under that plan, the league would keep its administrative offices on the site. The idea generated some interest from real estate developers; and as of last week, Smalley said, the league was still reviewing a proposal from one developer.
The league has no plans to close its shelters in Boston, Dedham, and Brewster, Smalley said.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. 