Animal Refuge Center celebrates grand opening of new on-site clinic

A new state-of-the-art medical center at the Animal Refuge Center in North Fort Myers will officially open on Saturday.

The Sharon Bodenhafer Critter Clinic will continue to treat hundreds of cats and dogs on the property that have been injured and abandoned.

The medical center came to fruition after three years of hard work and many donations. It was named after Bodenhafer, whose husband Chuck Bodenhafer donated a large amount in her honor.

“Sharon had been rescuing dogs and cats her whole life, so many I could not count,” Chuck Bodenhafer said in a news release. “If she could not keep them, she found forever homes for them.”

The Animal Refuge Center is the largest no-kill shelter in Southwest Florida.

So far, they have saved more than 100 cats and dogs this year.

The new 2,500 square-foot intake and medical facility will provide more space and better technology to take care of animals right on site.

The newest upgrades are a digital x-ray machine, digital dental lab and a new anesthesia machine.

The center hopes the upgrades will allow them to give animals the life they deserve.

“It wasn’t their fault that an owner deserted them or that they were born and abandoned, or just left behind somewhere,” said Rob Spicker, who sits on the board as vice president for the Animal Refuge Center.

“They deserve better than that, we’re going to fill that gap, we’re going to bring them in, we’re going to take care of them, we’ll nursed him back to health. And then we hope to find a family that will take them in and love them for the rest of their lives,” Spicker added.

The clinic now has more than 300 animals. The new clinic is only for the animals on the property.

Anyone interested in adopting animals from the center can visit the Animal Refuge Center website.