Brand-new shelter

Society celebrates facility’s long-awaited opening

The Stone County Humane Society recently opened its brand-new animal shelter. Standing in front of the new building are, from left, staff member Rachael Gosser, holding Charlotte, Humane Society vice president Bonnie Dumas, secretary Deanna Binson, president Tina Holmlund and volunteer Gresham McMillon, with Daisy.
The Stone County Humane Society recently opened its brand-new animal shelter. Standing in front of the new building are, from left, staff member Rachael Gosser, holding Charlotte, Humane Society vice president Bonnie Dumas, secretary Deanna Binson, president Tina Holmlund and volunteer Gresham McMillon, with Daisy.

— For animal lovers like Tina Holmlund, making sure animals are safe, happy and loved is incredibly important. That’s why Holmlund — president of the Stone County Humane Society — has recently had a dream come true with the completion of the new animal shelter for the organization.

“We’ve been dreaming about this for 13 years,” she said. “We have been raising money for it for 13 years, we have been working on the design for four or five years, and we got to building it last November.”

Holmlund said the new building was completed and the organization moved in toward the end of August. Before the new building, dogs were kept in dog ports that were housed in a three-sided building, cats were in a “cat cottage,” and the staff worked out of a small building on the property.

“It was exposed to the elements, and the staff had to work out of a small storage building,” she said. “We wanted to have a facility where we could keep the animals cleaner and safer.”

Now, the dogs and the staff are in a fully enclosed building. The cats are still in the cat cottage, and Holmlund said they will likely remain there.

“We tried everything we could,” Holmlund said of the old dog facility. “We had some heavy-duty curtains they used in the dairy barns that helped keep out the elements.”

The animals were never in danger, Holmlund said, but the new facility is much more comfortable for everyone.

The Stone County Humane Society is a no-kill shelter, and Holmlund said the staff and volunteers go to great lengths to make sure the animals are cared for.

“We really double over backward to find homes for animals,” she said. “We never put an animal to sleep because of space.”

This year, the Stone County Humane Society has adopted out 86 dogs and has transported 21 dogs to other locations to be adopted.

“Right now we have 24 animals,” she said. “We have 22 in the building, and that’s what we usually have. We also have some in foster homes and have some in the Paws in Prison program.”

Paws in Prison matches rescue dogs with selected inmates so the inmates can learn to train the animals in basic obedience skills and socialization. The program, which is a nonprofit program of the Arkansas Department of Correction, reduces the number of animals who are at risk of being put down by making them obedient and adoptable, while giving inmates the skills necessary to successfully rehabilitate and re-enter society.

Holmlund said the community has been very supportive of the humane society over the past 13 years. People have given money to the organization in honor of their pets and loved ones, the community has supported the humane society’s annual fundraiser Paws for a Cause, and two years ago, the Stone County Humane Society received a large gift from a woman who left her entire estate to the organization when she died.

Even in the building process, the humane society received gifts. One example Holmlund mentioned was Crawford Electric Co., which did much of the work in the building for free.

All of those venues of generosity allowed the humane society to build the new shelter in a financially responsible manner.

“We have a lot of support from the community,” Holmlund said. “The building is probably a $500,000 building, and right now, we have about $120,000 in debt.”

The grand opening of the new shelter will take place from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and will include tours of the new facility, music and refreshments.

The Stone County Humane Society is at 17379 Arkansas 9 S. in Mountain View. The shelter is open from 2-5 p.m. daily and mornings by appointment only. To make an appointment, call (870) 269-5200.

The shelter’s dog adoption fee is $100, the fee for a Paws in Prison trained dog is $150, and the cat adoption fee is $50. Online applications for adoption can be found at schspets.org. Animals ready for adoption can also be found at petfinder.com and adoptapet.com.

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