FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's three major animal shelters all have the same charitable goal, to get needy cats and dogs into lasting homes. But their directors say the shelters' proximity, price differences and other factors can turn charity into an unintended competition.
"It's a kind of weird dichotomy, really," said Tony Rankin, manager of the Fayetteville shelter, which is off 15th Street in the southeast of town. "You know you have the same goals and the same interests as another organization -- it's like businesses competing to sell T-shirts or something."
Fayetteville's shelter and Washington County's shelter are both in the city limits, while Springdale has its own shelter.
Washington County officials first raised the competition issue during a Quorum Court committee meeting in September. Angela Ledgerwood, who oversees the county shelter in southern Fayetteville, said a prospective patron recently tried to haggle down her price to match the Fayetteville shelter's.
She said she hoped to initiate some cooperation, such as a joint adoption drive, with the other shelters.
"We think it's really important that we get together," Ledgerwood said.
Justices of the peace said they are all for working together.
Candy Clark, a Democrat from Fayetteville who didn't run for re-election, said last fall that she favored cooperation because animals' lives are at stake. She pointed to humane societies in northern Texas that "emptied their shelters" by doing joint events.
"I think if we're going to do that, we better go big, bold and brassy and do it," she said.
Ledgerwood and other shelter directors often refer people to another area shelter if residents don't immediately find their ideal pets. An empty-the-shelter event, when several area shelters had simultaneous specials and advertisements, took place several months ago, Springdale shelter director Courtney Kremer said.
"That was a great event, but we all operated from our own facilities," she said, adding that she'd encountered comparison-shopping like at the Washington County shelter. "You didn't have the camaraderie of hanging out with everybody."
Ledgerwood said Friday that she hadn't had time to reach out to the others because of how busy the shelter is; each month this year has broken the previous month's record level of intakes, she said. But Ledgerwood said an empty-the-shelter event would become an annual program.
"Cooperation among shelters is an ongoing effort," she said.
Rankin said he hadn't encountered direct problems because of competition. The competitiveness might instead help the shelters and keep them adaptable, he said. For example, when Washington County did a $14 adoption special in February, Fayetteville followed suit.
"I think we're all being very successful," he said.
Benton County is home to twice as many shelters as Washington County but doesn't have the same competitiveness because they're spread out, said Clayton Morgan, director of the Humane Society for Animals in Rogers. The nonprofit shelter handles animals that arrive from Benton County animal control and rural residents.
"You've got an odd situation up there," Morgan said, referring to Washington County.
Bella Vista, Gentry, Gravette, Siloam Springs and other towns have their own shelters, he said, including another in Rogers.
"I send people to them, and they send people to me, all the time," Morgan said. "I don't care where they [customers] get the animals -- just get the animals at a shelter. We need to be on the same team."
He urged Washington County shelters to stick to that mindset, adding that shelters' ultimate goal is not to be needed. He's pushing for mandatory spay-and-neuter laws to make that happen.
Rankin and Kremer both agreed all shelters are on the same side, saying they were ready and willing for deeper cooperation.
"That's definitely something we're on-board for," Kremer said. "Just name the place; we'll be there."
Metro on 03/23/2015