An outbreak of distemper like the one that has temporarily closed the Humane Society of the Black Hills shelter could be prevented with a new shelter building that has better ventilation, director Melissa Foxworth said this week.

"Really, I can't comprehend this layout or this ventilation," said Foxworth, who started as director in August.

She said she hopes to build a new shelter that has better ventilation and more room to house animals.

The current shelter, built in 1998, has an inadequate air-handling system that spreads disease, even when sick animals are kept in a separate room, Foxworth said.

But Skip Rudge, who was president of the board of directors when the new shelter opened, said the shelter was built with two separate HVAC systems - one for stray animals taken in, and one for animals ready to be adopted.

He said distemper is not an uncommon problem at shelters and that the same year that the Humane Society moved in to the current shelter, an outbreak of feline distemper forced the euthanization of more than 30 cats.

Foxworth said the current system is inadequate. She compared the situation to a day care, where children spread colds and the flu; the difference is that children are vaccinated against fatal diseases, and animals dropped off at the shelter often aren't.

The shelter confirmed at least four cases of distemper in the past two weeks, and eight dogs were euthanized as a result of the outbreak, the shelter said Wednesday. It will be closed to adoptions until Wednesday, Sept. 17.

A bigger facility also would allow the shelter to hold animals longer, so dogs and cats aren't euthanized simply because there isn't the space to care for them or enough foster families to pitch in, shelter manager Mischa Hiland said.

"Every resource that we have is already tapped out in here," Hiland said.

Until a new building is possible, Foxworth is looking for a set of temporary buildings so the shelter can quarantine incoming animals in three phases over 21 days, to be sure they are free of communicable diseases before putting them in with the rest of the animals.

The current shelter was built at a cost of $1 million, plus about $500,000 to equip it.

A completely new shelter might be out of reach for the organization.

"I don't think the expense is justified," Rudge said. He said if the shelter has the resources it, could improve the current air-handling system or expand the facility to handle more animals.

Dr. Wes Wood, Animal Clinic veterinarian who has been advising the shelter on handling the distemper outbreak, agreed.

"There's always room for improvement," Wood said. "Unfortunately, in a situation like the shelter's, it's a balance between funding, manpower and feasibility."

He said the first priority of the shelter is probably to create a more stringent, multi-step isolation period for newly arrived animals. But he said the shelter is doing well with the resources available.

"You would have to have an isolation room for each specific animal that came in if you wanted to do 100 percent quarantine. When you're bringing in 200 or 300 animals a month, that becomes difficult," Wood said. "Realistically, they do as good a job as they can."

He said the best ventilation system, by itself, cannot prevent an outbreak of distemper, because some dogs will come to the shelter not showing symptoms.

He advised people to get their animals vaccinated: "It's kind of a shame we even have to deal with this disease."

Humane Society board president Katy Stulc said the board has not considered building a brand-new shelter.

"We actually have not talked about that," she said. "It would be fantastic, but it would be much down the road if that were the case."

Stulc agreed the shelter's biggest problem is its HVAC system. She said the board had the system looked at, and the mechanic said the system exchanges the air in the building only once per hour; he recommended a system that provides 40 air exchanges per hour.

The board would also like to repair and seal the concrete floor in the shelter, but both projects cost money.

"We would have to do fundraising in order to do that," Stulc said.

Both projects could help reduce the chance of a disease outbreak, Stulc said. She said she supports Foxworth's ideas to develop a three-stage isolation system for incoming animals.

While they dream of nicer facilities, Stulc said the focus right now with the new director is just making sure shelter operations are running smoothly, staff are in the right positions and the right policies are in place.

BREAKOUT (optional)

What makes a good animal shelter? Animal Sheltering magazine, a publication of the Humane Society of the United States, lists "eight essential elements" of a good shelter building:

y Lighting. There should be plenty of natural light, plus three levels of interior lighting, for cleaning, for every day, and for nighttime.

y Drainage. Drains need to be big enough to accommodate pet waste and hair and be designed to reduce odor and the spread of disease.

y Flooring. It should be durable and seamless, even extending up the walls a few inches.

y Noise. Acoustical plaster can improve sound absorption, and animal housing can be divided up more to discourage barking.

y Ventilation. The Humane Society of the United States recommends a system that provides 12 to 15 air exchanges per hour, recognizing this can be expensive and use a lot of energy. Rooms should have the right "pressure" to either encourage or discourage air flow, and there should be several "zones" with different thermostats.

y Lobby. The place where the public enters should be bright, clean, quiet and odor-free without being lavish. Visitors should be able to view adoptable pets.

y Dogs. They need a clean, quiet, comfortable dog run, preferably with two sides to make cleaning easier. Dogs shouldn't have nose-to-nose contact, which can spread disease.

y Cats. Cats need room to move around, as well as hiding places and perches. Keeping cats in cages, especially when they need to be moved in and out for cage cleaning, is stressful for the animals.