Bentonville can do better in caring for its animals

Anyone who has lived in Bentonville within the last 10 years is aware of its rapid growth. This community has become a center of business, a market for thriving entrepreneurship and a place where arts, culture, and recreation are converging to turn Bentonville into a major destination.

However, one aspect of our community has been lagging: treatment and protection of homeless and abandoned pets.

The leadership of Bentonville has contracted with neighboring cities to handle our stray dogs and chosen to completely ignore cats. Local veterinarians, including myself, have worked hand in hand with rescues and individuals to spay, neuter, vaccinate, and temporarily house overwhelming numbers of animals. Despite these efforts, the number of animals is continuing to rise while financial resources and volunteers are dwindling.

This antiquated mentality toward how the community treats its stray and homeless animals is not an acceptable policy. With the forward-thinking energy that now exists in Bentonville, we are uniquely positioned to obtain a regionally, or even nationally, recognized facility that will address the needs of these animals and allow the progressive philosophy we are trying to achieve.

Over the past few years, a national animal welfare organization, Best Friends Animal Society (https://bestfriends.org), assessed the needs of stray animals for the city of Bentonville. The findings from the assessment lead the City Council to create an animal shelter task force to explore all aspects of a shelter and understand what the public would want out of a modern shelter. I have participated on the task force; our goal is to create a public-private partnership supporting a facility beyond the traditional “dog pound” and animal control. It would allow Bentonville a resource of animal education and support that encourages adoptions and prevents surrenders. By avoiding overpopulation, this facility would work toward Bentonville becoming a “no-kill” city.

After an overwhelmingly positive response to an opinion-based survey of nearly 1,000 participants, it is clear the members of this community are in favor of a modern, proactive shelter. The next City Council meeting is on Nov. 13 and the task force needs supporters to help convince our city leaders to act on, and uniquely resolve, our animal welfare crisis. In order to stay updated, visit Bentonville Shelter Task Force on Facebook. DR. LEETH HARPER

Bentonville