Arkansas shelters save more pets
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Animal shelters in Arkansas are killing fewer cats and dogs by preventing shelter stays and helping pets get adopted instead, Michelle Logan, Best Friends Pet Resource Center director, told Axios.
By the numbers: About 900 fewer animals were killed in Arkansas shelters in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Best Friends Animal Society, the national nonprofit organization that has a Bentonville center.
- About 81% of animals in shelters statewide were saved, up from 80% in 2024.
- The organization estimates 64 of the state's 98 shelters are "no-kill," while a few more are almost there.
What it means: "No-kill" is "saving every healthy and treatable pet," Logan said, and means fewer than 10% of animals are euthanized. The buffer is to account for those with irreparable medical or behavioral problems.
What they're saying: "We really have put a lot of effort into preventing pets from entering the shelter in the first place," Logan said.
- Providing pet food assistance, free microchipping and vaccinations, and dog behavioral training are ways to help people keep their pets. She also recommends that those who find a lost animal first try to find the owner — through information on the pet's collar, microchip or lost pet sites — before taking the animal to a shelter.
State of play: While Best Friends' only Arkansas location is in Bentonville, the center works with shelters across the state by giving them resources like dog training materials or pet food and sometimes transporting animals to the Bentonville center.
- Arkansas shelters that haven't achieved "no-kill" status often do not have the resources or space for robust programming to help people keep their pets or adopt out pets.
Zoom in: All shelters in NWA were no-kill in 2025 except for the Lester C. Howick Animal Shelter of Washington County, which was deemed "nearly no-kill," having saved 88% of pets.
Go deeper: Explore the data.