Photo courtesy of Out of the Woods Rescue — River and his new owner play.

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

RESCUE IN THE ROCK

No party is planned for the third anniversary of Out of the Woods Animal Rescue of Arkansas.

“We have too much to do!” said president Kathy Woods, who founded the nonprofit in 2007 to help animals other shelters in the area could not.

“We don’t turn people down. That’s what sets us apart,” Woods said. “We’ll help anybody who’s willing to take on the responsibility for the animals they’ve taken in.” (more…)

PHOTOS BY SUSAN LOESCH

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

RESCUE IN THE ROCK

What began with a phone call to Animal Planet ended in the rescue of 25 dogs, a raccoon, four cats and a horse when four central Arkansas rescue groups helped an overwhelmed El Paso woman.

Animal Planet Executive Producer Dan Jackson said the footage would premiere sometime in July on a new, as yet unnamed show.

“It will be about helping people who have too many animals,” Jackson said. (more…)

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Two Johnson County women charged with felony animal cruelty for running a mass dog breeding operation were sentenced to probation and given fines after they pleaded no contest to all eight counts against them.

Deputy prosecutor Bruce Wilson said Christine Yarrington, 60, and Lynn Burkett, 51, were sentenced Wednesday in Johnson County Circuit Court to five years’ probation and were fined $1,500 each, plus court costs.

They also were prohibited from having any animals in their possession and were ordered to undergo counseling on proper ownership and treatment of animals, Wilson said. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A Pulaski County Quorum Court committee wants Public Works Director Sherman Smith to study implementing a pet-licensing program to encourage people to spay and neuter animals in an effort to reduce strays in unincorporated areas and those being euthanized by North Little Rock.

Steve Goss, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he added the issue to the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting after a good friend who volunteers at the North Little Rock animal shelter at Burns Park lamented over how many animals were being euthanized there.

In 2009, North Little Rock’s animal shelter in Burns Park took in 1,863 dogs and 1,148 cats from North Little Rock, said Billy Grace, North Little Rock’s animal control director. Another 656 dogs and 116 cats were brought in from the county, for a total of 3,783 animals. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

A south Arkansas breeder surrendered 143 dogs to the Humane Society of Pulaski County on Saturday, leaving the shelter past capacity and low on supplies, said Director Kay Simpson.

All the dogs suffered from mange; many from eye infections, which in some cases will result in eye removal; and many had hair matted to the bone.

“One dog was so matted it was like concrete on both legs,” Simpson said. (more…)

JULIE STEWART
SPECIAL TO THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A woman serving a jail term for animal cruelty will be back in court next month.

Tammy Christine Hanson, 43, is scheduled for trial Jan. 6 in Baxter County District Court on seven misdemeanor charges, including theft and evidence tampering.

Her trial was set for Wednesday but was moved because of a scheduling conflict in the prosecutor’s office, a District Court spokesman said. (more…)

DAVE HUGHES
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

CLARKSVILLE — Two Johnson County women have been charged with felony cruelty to animals after a large dog-breeding operation was discovered earlier this month, authorities said.

Christine Yarrington, 60, and Lynn Elise Burkett, 51, both of rural Lamar, were each charged in Johnson County Circuit Court on Thursday with eight counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. Authorities previously had not identified the women. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

JULIE STEWART
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

MOUNTAIN HOME — An old-fashioned law enforcement tool helped authorities catch William and Tammy Hanson, who officials said were on the run for more than three years in a notorious animal cruelty case in Baxter County.

Tipsters turned them in, officials said Wednesday. (more…)

JULIE STEWART
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

MOUNTAIN HOME — Tammy Christine Hanson was returned to Baxter County late Friday after nearly four years on the run in an animal-cruelty case that gained national notoriety.

Authorities were also seeking the return of her husband, William Hanson, 44, from a jail in Johnson County, Mo. (more…)

CAROLYNE PARK
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

The barn stall wasn’t the sterile, well-equipped hospital operating room Dr. Pamela Howard was used to, and the 680-pound patient on the floor was a long stretch from her usual patients in the burn center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

But the wounds were familiar. As a burn and trauma surgery specialist, she knows them well. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOUNTAIN HOME — A woman who failed to show up in February 2006 for sentencing on 20 counts of animal cruelty has been arrested in Vermont, Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said Sunday.

Tammy Christine Hanson, 42, was arrested Saturday in Sutton, in northeastern Vermont, by Caledonia County Sheriff Michael Bergeron, according to Montgomery. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

A Vilonia woman overwhelmed with at least 35 cats she’d taken in called the Faulkner County sheriff’s office and U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln for help.

With no county shelter, officials and Patricia Medley of Vilonia turned to Gentle Souls Pit Bull Rescue. (more…)

Grace Hawes (left) and Kip Clift, dressed as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, mingle at a Mardi Gras parade Feb. 15 in New Orleans. (All photos by Zoe Clift/RESCUE IN THE ROCK)

ZOE CLIFT
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Two Little Rock canines were part of the Barkus Krewe in New Orleans on Feb 15.

Grace Hawes, a 15-year-old rescue hound mix from the Pulaski County Humane Society, and Kip Clift, a 2-year-old rescue pup from the Central Arkansas Rescue Effort for Animals, took to the streets for the event. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Ella and Emma were rescued in mid-September from a pen deep in the woods of western Pulaski County.

For years, all the two dogs had was each other and their elderly owner, who was admitted to a nursing home last year. He could only come out to feed and play with the dogs once a week. Recently, the man died, leaving Ella and Emma with only each other. (more…)

Rescuers focus on pets in need in rural parts of state

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

A path carpeted with beer bottles, rusted cans, matted fabric and food containers leads to a maze of cages opening into one another, dead-ending, stretching far into the woods.

It’s easy to get lost here off Merry Road in a remote part of western Pulaski County. Out of the Woods rescuers Cindy Paxton and Lori Sattler, each carrying a dog abandoned and caged for months, use the skull and bones of another dog as a landmark pointing the way out. (more…)