Ballarat Regional Animal Facility

The existing animal shelter is in an old, repurposed abattoir building; it is not fit for purpose and often at capacity.  

The new purpose-built shelter will lead to improved quality of life for the animals in our care with integrated indoor and outdoor facilities, improved ventilation and infection control and the ability to care for an additional 30 dogs and 80 cats in code-compliant pens. 

• Caring for stray, lost, abandoned or abused animals from around the region.  
• Quarantine of dangerous or seized animals.  
• Emergency boarding for people in crisis situations such as domestic violence or natural emergencies.  
• Facilitating adoptions of animals to their new homes.  

The new Animal Facility will be on City of Ballarat land at Waringa Drive in Mitchell Park. 

Enhance the quality of life and standard of care delivered to the thousands of stray, lost, abandoned or abused animals from around the region that pass through the City of Ballarat’s animal shelter each year  

Give staff the ability to quarantine dangerous animals appropriately, with significantly less risk for staff. The Ballarat Animal Shelter is the only facility in the region, which can hold seized dogs, often for several months, ahead of pending court cases.    

Improve infection control. Ensuring the animals are adequately housed minimises the spread of disease and reduces the amount of time needed for infection control and cleaning.  

Enhanced emergency boarding facilities. Increased capacity to care for people's animals in crisis situations including family violence, temporary ill health, or emergencies like bushfire or flood.  

Improved quality of life for the animals. With integrated indoor and outdoor facilities, staff will not need to manually transfer animals outside for cleaning and maintenance of pens, meaning staff can spend more time on animal enrichment activities.     

The facility will be assessed by the City of Ballarat as to its future use.

The project is currently in the design phase, with the finalised designs anticipated from the architect in mid 2024.  

The project will then go out to Tender with construction to commence in early 2025.  

The new facility would not be possible without the contribution of $11.5 million from the Victorian Government and $3 million from the City of Ballarat. 

Each year, the Ballarat Animal Shelter cares for more than 2,000 lost, surrendered, abandoned, or mistreated domestic animals and livestock from across our region, offering care for pets displaced by bushfire and other emergencies.