ARKADELPHIA — For Marsha Halbert, the best part about being featured in this story was getting to spend an extra day with all of her “babies.”
Halbert, 65, visits the Humane Society of Clark County, or HSCC, once a week to pet and play with the more than 100 cats the shelter has.
“I love cats a lot,” Halbert said. “I can’t have any cats of my own. I can’t afford the vet bills, and I live in an apartment.”
Halbert is originally from Pine Bluff but lives in Arkadelphia. She said she enjoys visiting the shelter because it is like a second home to her.
“If there is any way possible, she is going to be here every Saturday,” shelter director Amanda Malcom Bell said. “Everyone tells me that this is what she looks forward to all week long.”
Bell wasn’t sure how long Halbert has been coming to the clinic, but Bell said Halbert has been visiting the shelter for more than two years, and she said Halbert has been showing up almost weekly in that time.
“Not only is she filling a void because she lives somewhere she can’t have cats, but she is also helping us socialize the cats,” Bell said. “The more interaction the cats have, the more adoptable they are going to be.
“That’s the same thing with all these college students that you see everywhere [at the shelter today]. This is how it is in the afternoon. The more people we can get through, the more socialized the animals are, and the more adaptable they will be.”
According to its website, HSCC also offers an Adopt for the Day program, in which volunteers can check out one of the puppies and take it for a car ride, to a lake or to the park. Bell said the trips teach the animals to trust people and prepare the pets for a forever home. For more information, visit humanesocietyclarkcounty.org or call (870) 245-2579.
“I just enjoy visiting with the cats because I love them,” Halbert said of spending time at the shelter.
“They are my babies,” she said.
“I know she is excited that she was able to come in on a day that wasn’t a Saturday,” Bell said about Halbert’s visit to the shelter for an interview for this story.
Bell said the shelter is beyond capacity with 120 cats and about 90 dogs. She said there is a group in Connecticut that takes a lot of the animals, and Bell hopes to get a bunch of dogs out later this month. By October, Bell hopes to start moving some of the cats out.
“Right now, I can’t accept anything,” Bell said. “We are exhausted.”
So far, the Humane Society of Clark County has spayed and neutered more than 1,000 animals with its clinics. The next free clinic is scheduled for Nov. 26-28.
“It is expensive to get a cat or dog spayed or neutered, and it doesn’t take very many people who aren’t spaying or neutering to cause a problem,” Bell said. “If a dog can have eight puppies at a time, and six months after that, they are all having puppies, you can easily have a huge problem at your house.
“It doesn’t take very much to have a problem.”
Bell said cats aren’t much different, as they can have four litters a year and up to six kittens per litter.
“That’s how people are having 1,000 [animals] at their house,” Bell said. “It doesn’t take as much as you would think to become overrun with animals.
“I understand and emphasize with people because it happens fast.”
Bell said she hopes that when people come into the shelter, they see the problem.
“Everybody has been really receptive to these clinics. We fill up every time,” Bell said. “People like Miss Marsha coming in, holding the cats and making them be social is exactly why our cats are so adoptable.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.