DARBY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) - Delaware County is building a new million dollar animal shelter across from its Emergency Services Training Center in Darby Township. It’s meant to replace the county SPCA which, after December 31st, will no longer pick up stray dogs and cats in 49 municipalities.

This facility won’t be complete until spring so the search is on for interim options to deal with strays. The newly formed Animal Protection Board must also find a nonprofit operator for the shelter, and towns used to paying a little over a hundred dollars per animal pickup will have to get used to paying twice that – given the deficits the SPCA has run in the past.

“It’s a kind of a business. It takes a lot of time, a lot of manpower, a lot of volunteers. So there’s some challenges ahead of us here,” said County Councilman Mario Civera.

But with formal requests for proposals set to go out next month and this building going up in short order, members of the board are confident they’ll find someone to run the place.

Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio