Arkansans are fostering more than two dozen dogs from Benton Animal Services until Jan. 13 thanks to a social media campaign, giving the furry friends a warm place to stay during the current spell of winter weather.
Residents of Benton and the surrounding area have taken in 28 dogs that were living in an outdoor section of the shelter. This means almost every dog in Benton Animal Services’ care will ride out the storm indoors, said Mallori Howard, Benton Animal Services shelter director.
“We’ve got everybody inside except for a couple of German shepherds,” Howard said. “I think at this point they’d rather be outside.”
Benton Animal Services keeps many of its dogs in outdoor kennels. A Jan. 7 Facebook post from the shelter said its outdoor dogs would survive the cold with blankets and tarps to keep their kennels covered, but that the dogs would do best in a warm home.
Susan Taylor, a shelter volunteer who’s kept foster dogs for short stints, said she was worried about the coming cold snap. So with Howard’s go-ahead, she set out to find temporary homes for the dogs.
“I said, ‘Great, here’s what we’re gonna do: I’m gonna put together a post. I’m gonna make some social media content, like some graphics and stuff, and I’m going to get it out there,’” Taylor said.
Taylor made a Facebook post Jan. 4 asking for temporary foster homes. Other users shared it more than 280 times.
“Benton’s an engaged community,” Taylor said.
Benton Animal Services took Taylor’s post and ran, posting pleas for foster owners and sharing pictures of cute dogs in need.
The posts received attention, and by Jan. 7 volunteers had invited 14 dogs into their homes. Two days later, another eight dogs were warm and dry in the care of their temporary keepers.
Taylor said the response to the cold snap appeal has been amazing, and she hopes the energy for animal rescue will continue after the snow melts.
“This campaign is a one-off,” Taylor said. “It’s been successful, and that’s exciting, but this is the reality of animal rescue year-round. We need the community’s support. We need fosters. We need adopters. We need volunteers.”
Howard said she was “completely surprised” by the robust response, and that people have come all the way from Little Rock to pick up dogs to foster. It’s a pretty good gig, she said.
“All they [foster owners] have to do is pretty much love on the animal, take care of it,” Howard said.
One foster dog was adopted less than a day after it was picked up. Howard said she expects more short-term foster families to make a permanent commitment.
Fostering a dog from Benton Animal Services is free, and the shelter provides food, medical care and a collar and leash. Adopting a pet costs $25 this month.
Potential foster households go through a vetting process and the shelter makes sure “they understand what they’re getting into,” said Thomas Wells, a service officer with Benton Animal Services.
Benton Animal Services is also accepting donations of food, blankets, leashes and collars. They also need shelter volunteers.
Applications for adopting and volunteering can be found at the city of Benton’s website.
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