Russell County explores converting Copper Creek School into regional animal-care and vet-tech center

Russell County supervisors on Feb. 9 reviewed preliminary plans to convert the vacant Copper Creek School into a multiuse animal-care facility that would combine a regional animal shelter, a veterinary treatment center and a large-animal training program.

The county administrator told the board the Industrial Development Authority has secured grant funding to cover engineering costs and that conceptual plans should be ready in about two weeks. "This school will not only be an animal shelter that also just is a holding facility. It will also be a medical treatment facility for those animals," the administrator said while outlining design ideas that would reuse existing water and sewer capacity and reduce construction costs compared with a new build.

Officials said the proposal includes separate spaces for domestic-animal intake and care as well as large-animal barns and treatment areas. The project would add a spay-and-neuter clinic available to the broader region and create internships and hands-on training opportunities in partnership with LMU. Board members praised local veterinarians already supporting shelter operations and emphasized the facility’s potential to retain students in county vet-tech training and provide regional services such as rabies clinics.

The board did not take a binding vote on construction at the meeting; it approved moving forward with the engineering study funded through the IDA grant and asked the administrator to return with final conceptual plans and any required state-agency approvals.

If engineering confirms the concept, the county said it would pursue necessary agreements, grant funding and agency approvals before moving to construction.