First 'Cageless Animal Shelter' Aims to Change the Way the Country Looks at Pet Adoption
Dogs and cats roam free at Best Friends Pet Resource Center.
In Bentonville, Arkansas, one new animal shelter hopes to inspire the future of animal adoption. Best Friends Pet Resource Center creates a joyful, accessible environment for animal lovers and pet owners of all ages, though their true superstars--of course--are the animals.
At this shelter, dogs and cats don't live in kennels. During the daytime, they inhabit rooms within the center so they can meet potential adopters. At night, though, they get to go home with loving foster families.
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If you think their adoption program is impressive, just wait until you hear about all the resources and amenities they have for people! The crowd favorite has to be the gigantic indoor slide (for humans), though the lounge spaces and DIY dog wash stations are invaluable for the entire community. The coffee shop even doubles as a cat cafe, where anyone can meet adoptable felines!
Susan Cosby, the shelter's senior adviser of strategy and integration, told Fox News that she hopes this shelter will have a lasting impact.
"Right here in Northwest Arkansas," she said, "we’re actually creating the future of animal sheltering that we hope is going to be a model for our nation." Cosby herself has worked with plenty of animals living in kennels, and she knows firsthand that they're not the way to go.
She explained, "it is not a healthy environment for them to stay happy. They develop behavior problems over time." At Best Friends' Northwest Arkansas location, though, that's no longer a concern.
Best Friends also has an incredible goal of making the entire country 'no-kill' by 2025. Their new cage-free and community-driven center is a great step toward this goal, especially since the shelter aims to help pet owners, too. As their website lays out, Best Friends Pet Resource Center, "offers support for families to keep pets in homes," through resources such as a free pet food and supplies pantry.
Whether you're looking to get help or to give help--or even to give an animal a home--stopping by Arkansas' newest animal shelter is never a bad idea.
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