West Memphis is cutting the ribbon Thursday on a brand-new animal shelter built with a $1.7 million gift from Southland Casino Hotel, replacing a facility that was pushed over capacity after two recent seizure operations. The ceremony for the Carolyn & Ness Sechrest Animal Shelter & Adoption Center is set for Thursday, and visitors are invited to tour the facility.
A City of West Memphis Facebook announcement invites people to join the celebration. An earlier report placed the project at 2000 Southland Drive behind Southland Casino Hotel on the former site of the Mid-South Greyhound Adoption Center, according to FOX13 Memphis.
A Gift From Southland and a Name That Honors Its Donors
The project traces back to January 2024, when Southland Casino Hotel and its parent company, Delaware North, announced the $1.7 million gift that would fund construction of a new, much larger shelter for the city. The facility is being named in honor of Ness Sechrest, chairman emeritus of the Southland board of directors, and his wife, Carolyn, per the Delaware North Newsroom. The Arkansas Greyhound Kennel Owners Association also chipped in $40,000 to support the project, the same release noted.
Project materials indicated the new shelter, expected to open in 2026, would be significantly larger than the facility it replaces, according to the Delaware North Newsroom. That extra space addresses a problem that surfaced when seizure operations pushed the shelter over capacity.
An Overcrowding Crisis That Made the Case for Expansion
The shelter's struggles became impossible to ignore in 2024, when back-to-back seizure operations in a single week pushed the facility over capacity, as reported by Action News 5. A total of 120 animals were seized during that stretch, and a rescue partner arranged through the Bissell Pet Foundation stepped in to pull 25 of them to ease the strain, the station reported.
That wasn't an isolated incident. Per the West Memphis Animal Shelter's own account, the shelter rescued 72 dogs and a cat from a hoarding situation in 2024, and separately took in 70 dogs found in dire conditions that same year, leaning on partner rescues and foundations to place them. The shelter rescues and shelters animals and works to find them homes.
What Thursday's Celebration Means for West Memphis
With the new center now ready for its debut, city officials are framing the ribbon cutting as more than a ceremonial milestone. Organizers have invited visitors to tour the facility, giving residents a look at a space meant to offer a modern, welcoming environment for animals awaiting adoption. In its announcement, the city wrote: “JOIN US TOMORROW as we celebrate...”
For a shelter that has spent recent years scrambling to keep pace with seizures, hoarding cases, and dogs rescued from dire conditions, Thursday's opening represents a tangible payoff from a partnership years in the making between the city and its casino-industry benefactor.
