The City of Medicine Hat has awarded a tender for the city’s pound services. Parks and Recreation General Manager Todd Sharpe announced that Alberta Pound & Rescue Centre will take over duties from the SPCA, effective January 1st. The city signed a 3 year contract with Alberta Pound & Rescue, with a yearly budget of $300,000. Sharpe added that the city can rest assure that they will get as good, if not better animal care than they got from the SPCA. The moves comes after 21 years of pound services provided by the SPCA., who requested to end their pound operations earlier this year, so they could focus on providing adoption services for the area. Alberta Pound & Rescue will take over the old Valley Pet Hospital building located on Industrial Avenue.