Ziggy

Thank you, Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation!

The love that Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation and Ziggy shared will live on and is honored here at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center.

heart with paw print

In loving memory of Ziggy

Ziggy was the beloved Maltese of Michelle Kamen, managing director of the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation. Brothers Leonard and Robert considered Michelle a close friend and treated her as a daughter. Knowing how much Michelle loved Ziggy (and all animals), Leonard and Robert included animal welfare in the mission of their foundation when they established it in 2016.

Now that both brothers have passed away (at ages 96 and 98), their legacy of kindness continues through the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation. The foundation supports worthy humanitarian organizations and animal causes including Best Friends Animal Society and the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, where the foundation helps low-income families access veterinary care.

Michelle is grateful to Leonard and Robert for honoring her love of Ziggy and for their compassion and support for dogs and cats in need. The sculpture of Ziggy signifies their generosity, as well as that of the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation for helping to make the Best Friends Pet Resource Center possible.

You can help keep Ziggy's legacy alive

The Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Northwest Arkansas is a first-of-its-kind, fully reimagined animal shelter designed to support both pets and the people who love them.

As the future of animal sheltering, the Best Friends Pet Resource Center is more than just a place to adopt a pet. It’s a community destination that gives people better connection to adoptable pets and to each other, provides support for families to keep pets in homes, and offers opportunities for animal lovers to help make the state of Arkansas and the entire country no-kill in 2025.

It's also a place where we pay tribute to beloved pets like Ziggy with the sculptures you see displayed around the center and grounds, and a place where we express gratitude for generous donors like the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Foundation.

You can save the lives of homeless dogs and cats in Northwest Arkansas and help keep families together.

Make a Lifesaving Gift
Smiling dog sitting on the lap of a smiling person sitting on a chair with a yellow blanket

Adopt a pet and save a life

Millions of cats and dogs enter shelters each year. One of them may be your new best friend.

When you adopt from a Best Friends location, or from one of the many shelters and rescue groups around the country, you’re not only adding a loyal and loving companion to your family, you’re helping to save lives.

View Adoptable Pets

You can also help today by adopting, volunteering, fostering and advocating for the pets who need you most in your community.

Smiling person holding a small white dog in front of a Best Friends regional location

Volunteer to help pets

There are countless ways to save lives by volunteering your time for pets in need.
Become a Volunteer
Smiling person holding a cat in her arms

Foster a pet and save lives

Welcoming a pet into your home for a short time not only helps that pet, it saves more lives by freeing up space in shelters.
Save Lives by Fostering

More stories from Northwest Arkansas

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these pets and their stories of hope, love and resilience.

Selfie of Katie holding Berry the dog, who is wearing a pink jacket

Dog goes from face in the crowd to one in a million

After coming from a house with 70 other dogs, Berry is happy being the center of attention with her new family.
A berry happy ending
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Black and white cat next to a bag of Blue Buffalo cat treats

Working together to fill pets’ bellies

A new partnership with Blue Buffalo ensures that dogs and cats at Best Friends locations around the country will get all the food and treats they need.
Providing support in many ways
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Sweet Pea the cat wearing her crocheted ears

A new set of ears for an injured cat

After everything Sweet Pea had been through, her foster volunteer wanted to do something special for her, leading to a one-of-a-kind creation.
Look at her now
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Best Friends Logo Mark

About Best Friends

Best Friends Animal Society is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Just a few years ago, cats and dogs were killed in staggering numbers in this country simply because shelters didn’t have the community support or the resources to save their lives. As of 2023, that number is 415,000 per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure a bright future for every dog and cat in America.

Best Friends operates the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and is saving the lives of homeless pets across the country by working with shelters and passionate people like you. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025. Together, we will Save Them All.

Person wearing a hat and sitting on a yellow couch with his hand on a brown tabby cat looking up at him

Let’s be friends!

Connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about what’s happening at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center.

Follow along to see photos and videos from our events, hear about upcoming adoption events, admire adorable adoptable pets, discover kitten care tips, check out foster success stories and so much more. 

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