On Wednesday, the Best Friends Animal Society met with community members at the Pet Resource Center to discuss the need for an emergency foster program.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — A Bentonville animal shelter is doing what it can to keep cats and dogs from being put down.
Best Friends Animal Society says more than 5,400 cats and dogs were killed in animal shelters across Arkansas last year.
On Wednesday, the shelter met with community members at the Pet Resource Center to discuss the need for an emergency foster program.
“If a family faces a crisis, say it’s an incarceration, an illness, or death in the family, loss of a job, it can be a lot of different things, they have pets, they can no longer care for,” Linda DeBerry with the Best Friends Animal Society said. “What happens to those pets? Well, a lot of times, those pets end up in shelters.”
DeBerry says the organization’s goal is to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025.
According to their website, they’ve made 17 shelters no-kill here in Northwest Arkansas.
In partnership with BestyBnB, Best Friends says it will connect people interested in fostering dogs and cats that are placed at the Pet Resource Center in Bentonville from other shelters.
“They’re bringing in people who want to open their homes to foster for pets,” DeBerry said. “We’ll be working with them and with the various shelters to find ways to pull from the communities, get people interested in emergency fostering, and convince them to register on the site.”
Both organizations are ironing out the details of the emergency fostering program.
“To find out how fast we can get those fosters up and running, we have to see what the negotiations between BestyBnB and the shelters look like. It’s kind of a stew right now. We’re cooking it, but we don’t know exactly when it’s going to be ready,” she said.
While plans are still in the works, they said they are very hopeful they will save many animals’ lives.
“The number of animals we can save is limited only by the number of foster homes that we can provide,” DeBerry said. “So if we have a million foster homes, we can save a million animals. So there is no limit to how much life-saving can be done if members of our community will step up [and] open their homes and their hearts for a little while to an animal in need. Even if it’s just a weekend or a week, it makes a huge difference.”
The Animal Society says it’s not sure when the program will start. They said it will depend on how fast volunteers sign up to foster. If you’re interested in fostering an animal, contact Best Friends Animal Society at the Pet Resource Center in Bentonville.
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