What would have been the 100th birthday of comedian and animal lover Betty White, January 17, is being celebrated across the country with fundraising campaigns for organizations that work to rescue, spay and neuter, and adopt animals that are unwanted or abandoned.
“We know that Betty White was a great friend to animals, and a very outspoken advocate for animals, especially dogs and cats,” said Cole Wakefield, director of animal services, Good Shepherd Humane Society. “She has supported animal welfare organizations for many years. It has been very heartening to see the spontaneous, organic outpouring from people to celebrate Betty White’s birthday by making donations to help the animals. There is no big marketing push around it. It is just viral the idea to celebrate her life on her birthday by donating to animal welfare causes.”
Good Shepherd will have a campaign on its Facebook page and will take donations in other ways. Wakefield said they encourage everyone to donate to their favorite animal welfare charity or agency whether it is Good Shepherd or any of the other great animal shelters around.
“We would love to see people honor her to support her favorite cause,” Wakefield said. “What an amazing, funny, kind soul. I grew up watching Golden Girls reruns and have always found her to be hilarious and one of those pure people who have a career in fame but continue to be humble and helpful. She stayed funny for seventy years.
“That’s hard to do. She was just a naturally talented person. She was an incredible role model for healthy aging, being nice, staying active and making a difference in the world. She could be off color in her humor but seemed to be a generally nice person and that seemed to power her through her ninety-nine years.”
Good Shepherd, on US 62 East normally houses between 40 and 50 dogs and cats, but that fluctuates as they average 30-40 adoptions per month. In 2021, they placed 535 dogs and cats in homes. The vast majority of those were direct adoptions.
“Even in a community that has an older demographic, we still have a vibrant and active animal welfare movement in Carroll County that is something to be proud of,” Wakefield said. “Generally, our big part of the year for kittens and puppies is spring. It tends to calm down in the winter, although we still have some that pop up. In the spring we will almost double our population of litters of cats and dogs.”
Good Shepherd is a no kill shelter. Wakefield said those have become more common in Northwest Arkansas and now most of the shelters are no kill. Good Shepherd also works with other animal rescue groups in the county.
“What we do in Carroll County is pretty incredible,” Wakefield said. “We have 22,000 people and nearly 1,000 cats and dogs are taken off the street per year, which is amazing especially considering there is very little public financing for the work that we do.”
Cole said their small staff is currently dealing with multiple Covid exposures. As a result, the Adoption Center will be closed until Jan. 15. The shelter will be operating on a skeleton, split-shift crew in order to properly care for the dogs and cats in their custody.
“Closing is something we have worked hard to avoid throughout the pandemic, and we hope to be back open next week,” Cole said. “We appreciate your patience and understanding. The thrift stores will be open as normal.”
Another rescue group is Unconditional Love Pet Rescue based in Green Forest. Founder Diane Ferguson said there will be a big fundraiser Jan. 17 on their Facebook page. She said that in addition to Green Forest, they serve Berryville and Eureka Springs. They help with the Eureka Springs Animal Control, which only has an outdoor facility.
Recently two owners in crisis had to give up their pets.
“They asked if we would help and foster them to keep them warm during this cold snap,” Ferguson said. “We help all over. Good Shepherd does all the local adoptions, so we provide a little different service. The majority of our dogs go up north. We go up through New England, and stop in Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. In 2020, we adopted out a little over 500 dogs. In 2021, it was 450 dogs. Adoptions were lower because of Covid.”