Last Hope shelter now at Bideawee's site

There's new life at Bideawee's old animal adoption center in Wantagh.

The center, which Bideawee closed more than two years ago, is now home to Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, a 30-year-old nonprofit with a shelter in Huntington.

Last Hope president Linda Stuurman said the new space is larger and considerably more comfortable than the nonprofit's two other shelters -- one for cats in Huntington, the other, now closed, for dogs in Lindenhurst.

"It's a state-of-the-art facility with all the amenities. It's like the Ritz Hotel to us," Stuurman said, adding that its old dog shelter was so small, volunteers would have to travel to a nearby fast-food restaurant after hours just to use the bathroom.

Bideawee president and chief executive Nancy Taylor issued a statement welcoming Last Hope to the Bideawee site.

Bideawee closed the adoption center suddenly in 2009.

Last Hope signed a five-year lease with Bideawee but will keep its Huntington cat shelter open for at least three more years, Stuurman said.

The new digs will allow the nonprofit to find homes for hundreds more animals than the 440 cats and 100 dogs adopted out last year, she said.

But the public won't be able to drop off unwanted pets at the Wantagh shelter. The group only takes animals from municipal shelters or those that are trapped from feral colonies outside, Stuurman said.

Several days before Saturday's official grand opening, dozens of tabbies, pit bulls and hounds already were at the facility, awaiting adoption.

Cat coordinator Milda Darzinskis picked up several mewing fluffballs from the rows of cages in the facility's cattery.

"This is the first time the cats and dogs have been under one roof," she said. "It's always been our dream."