Pet Overpopulation a Problem for Faulkner County

You`ve heard the expression, "It`s raining cats and dogs." But some Faulkner County residents say that`s just the kind of problem they`re having with the pet population: too many cats and dogs and too few homes. Resident Bill Bishop can`t give them all homes, but he`s made it to a few of them. "Schnookerdoodle, Nickerdoodle, Tippy, Panda Bear, Chewy...That`s Zipper under there, I don`t know where Frassy went," he said introducing his seven dogs. He and his wife also have six cats. "Sandy just showed up one morning, nobody knows where from, he was just a little kitty," he said. Some of Bishop`s pets were dumped near his home in Faulkner County. "We get quite a few strays. We end up giving some away, some we`ve kept," he said. Others were donated when the owners had to many to care for. Bishop says the county becomes overpopulated with unwanted animals and owners have no place to take them. It`s a problem the Faulkner County Humane Society is fighting along with the Bishop`s, but without their own animal shelter. "That would open opportunities for people to enter into a shelter on a daily basis and be able to llok at and spend more time with the animals," said Humane Society volunteer, Danielle Maddox. The society says they have some money to build an animal shelter, but there`s never enough to run it. Meanwhile, they`re all trapped in a vicious cycle. "One cat alone can procreate up to 67,000 kittens, because that cat can have a litter, the kittens in that litter can procreate litters," Maddox said. Many of the animals without homes will starve to death out on their own, if they`re not taken in by the likes of the Bishop`s. "It`s not right," he said. Conway does have an animal shelter, but it only operates within the city limits. Meanwhile, the county humane society keeps about 55 animals fostered out to volunteer homes, until they can be adopted. Volunteers say it would take a lot more cooperation and money to build and run a shelter.