Introducing: the Trenton Animal Shelter

Down Escher Street in Trenton, before you come to the Trenton Soup Kitchen, is a small, peach-colored building with a novel front roof line and, usually, the sound of many dogs barking.

That’s the Trenton Animal Shelter (TAS).  Its inside-outside caged pens for homeless dogs lets them tell the world they’re there -- and maybe also remind the world that they need loving homes.  The cats housed at the shelter share that need; they just can’t sing it out.

Volunteers with Trenton Animals Rock often walk the dogs outside around the shelter, where they can see and be seen.  Though Trenton Cats Rescue volunteers visit the cats, it’s mostly to socialize and clean cages because felines remain confined, not allowed to walk or play on the shelter floor.

The volunteer groups also take cats and dogs to adoption events on weekends.  Beyond people who come to the shelter looking for adoptable pets, those events are the main chance for cats to be seen, chosen and taken home.  

Here’s a walking tour-in-words through the shelter.  (Regrettably, I learned too late I needed special permission to photograph inside.)

The entrance facing Escher St. is fenced off so the side door facing the Soup Kitchen is the actual entry.  Once inside, the shelter manager’s office and a doctor’s area share space on the left, while on the right is a cat admissions room lined with stacked metal cages.  It includes a small sink and stored items.

Next on the left is a staff office area, while straight ahead is a wide, windowless and doorless room with more stacked cat cages and a washer-dryer.  Towels and blankets are stored here, with a couple sinks and cleaning supplies right outside.

On the right is a windowless bathroom-sized room where small dogs can be housed in stacked metal cages.  A few feet away, another door leads to a long row of dog kennels, each with a door to the outside, for larger dogs. 

In no way is the Trenton Animal Shelter palatial; it’s neither capacious nor well-ventilated, and it lacks an isolation area and a get-acquainted room, as well as accommodations allowing cats to stretch their legs and get exercise.  During the years I volunteered at TAS, and since, there’s been talk of a new or renovated building.  Right now the immediate hope is for trailers to be placed across the street for overflow functions and office space.  

Jose Munoz, who started his career at the shelter in 1999, became Chief/Manager in 2017.  He serves as bureau chief, supervising four other officers -- Hector Avalos, Nikijha Blakeley, Jose Millan and Jason Riley -- in the Humane Law Enforcement side of operations, and serves as shelter manager for the Animal Sheltering side.  

While NJ law requires all shelter animals to be held for 7 days so owners can claim missing pets, some spend weeks or months at TAS before being adopted or special-rescued by a rescue group, Munoz says. 

Adoption fees are $120 for dogs and $100 for cats, regardless of age, breed or sex.  Cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped before adoption; same for the dogs except for micro-chipping.  

Munoz wishes people wanting to help TAS would first learn how to care for their pets, including becoming familiar with state and local laws and ordinances.  Donations to TAS might include leashes and harnesses; cat carriers; chew toys, Kongs for dogs and cat toys; and towels (not blankets).  Food gifts aren’t recommended because animals can suffer from mixed-up diets.

Maybe visiting to spend time with shelter animals would be the best “donation” well-wishers can make.

Open 9-3 Monday-Friday, and 9-11 am Saturday and Sunday, the Trenton Animal Shelter is at 72 Escher St., Trenton.  Phone: 609-989-3254.  To see shelter pets available for adoption: TAS.Petfinder.com. 

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