Hen-reatta

Thank you, Christy Walton!

The love that Christy Walton and Hen-reatta shared will live on and is honored here at the Best Friends Pet Resource Center.

heart with paw print

In loving memory of Hen-reatta

Meet Hen-reatta, the Rhode Island Red chicken. Chickens are the pets of the farms, gardens, and backyards. Christy has spent many years cultivating, enjoying, and building communities in these environments. At times, chickens have played practical roles of catching bugs, laying eggs, and turning the earth over. At other times, they’ve been friendly and personable companions. You may one day visit some of the sites Christy has built at Olivewood Gardens in National City, California; Rusted Gate Farm in Southern Oregon; or Rancho Cacachilas in Baja California Sur, Mexico, among others.

The Best Friends Pet Resource Center is a valuable resource for the well-being of people, animals, and the environment in Northwest Arkansas. Christy is proud to help build this next chapter for the community.

You can help keep Hen-reatta'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 Hen-reatta with the sculptures you see displayed around the center and grounds, and a place where we express gratitude for generous donors like Christy Walton.

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

Make a Lifesaving Gift
Calico cat in the foreground with a person lying on the same piece of furniture behind her

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 in orange Best Friends volunteer T-shirt sitting in a chair next to a smiling brown and white dog

Volunteer to help pets

There are countless ways to save lives by volunteering your time for pets in need.
Become a Volunteer
Child hugging a gray and white cat in a home

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.

Franklin and Nigel the cats in the vintage shop

10 inspiring pet adoption stories from 2024

Enjoy some of the year’s most heartwarming tales from around the country of pets going home.
Read the most heartwarming adoption stories of the year
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Sabine the dog in her foster home

Faces of No-Kill: Dog goes from shut down to shining

Sabine’s story shows that even the most broken spirits can heal.
Foster care transforms her
Video
Pumba the dog with mouth open in a smile

Watch: Heartwarming reunion between dog and his person

Pumba’s person never intended for him to end up in a shelter, and everyone could feel the love when the two were reunited.
See the love
Video
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.

Large black dog giving a kiss to the face of a person wearing a hat

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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