Kim Mathis - Lone Pine Ranch Director

07/31/2024

It’s been the craziest week, calls, text,emails and Fb messages from people who want to surrender their animals. Lost and Found dogs turned away by the City shelters, even The Good Shepherd Humane Society who is a very caring shelter.

These shelters are paid by our tax dollars! The directors draw big salaries, they have paid employees, good Samaritans that pick these animals up to get them to a safe shelter are turned away.

My stomach hurts, my blood pressure soars, because I’m only a sanctuary who is full and I do my rescuing from my heart. My volunteers and I don’t make one dime, every cent goes to the animals. I’m spinning my wheels, there is no light that shines at the end of a tunnel. It’s only Wednesday and I have had 22 desperate calls, I don’t have the resources to take in anymore animals turned down by the City/County shelters.

07/21/2024

07/07/2024

“Hell is empty, all the demons are here.”
William Shakespeare

07/07/2024

We had this abandoned or lost dog almost trusting us for (a week being fed hot dogs) he came out of brush daily. The day we brought the trap July 2, fireworks had went off the night before and he hasn’t been back to his hiding place since. If you see him please contact me. 479-795-2709…😢location last seen Hudson Rd across from Hwy 102 Flea Market parking lot…

06/27/2024

So it’s like I awoke this morning after wading in deep Foggy swamp.

After the tornado I had to shut down till ready to absorb the clean up ahead of us.

My mind is clear for the first time in a month,
body fatigue is gone for today at least.

I walked out the front of my house and my flower garden is nothing but weeds, I thought how could I have not noticed the 3 ft weeds till this morning?

For the first time in a month I want to plant some flowers 🌸…a picture below of my precious Sylvia the part wolf baby. She is at Rainbow Bridge now….❤️

06/10/2024

A wonderful volunteer came and did some organizing in my Lone Pine Ranch Animal Shelter office. In the back by my office is where the Tornado hit the worst and my office was not touched 🧐…

06/06/2024

Home Town flea Market, nicest people we rented booth space from so that we could pay our Vets and buy our vaccines, Spay and Neuter. They were Lone Pines family, our biggest advocates that truly cared about what we do for the voiceless…

06/06/2024

Hi everyone, Lone Pine Ranch is starting a GoFundMe to help with … Lone Pine Ranch Animal Shelter Mathis needs your support for Need Help To Start Over Again

06/01/2024

I have never in my lifetime experienced such kindness and support from total strangers, they truly represent The Good Samaritan. I pray God guided me to pay it forward…

05/15/2024

6:10 Sunrise, Happy Wednesday ❤️

04/06/2024

6:44 Sunrise…Good Morning ❤️

01/16/2024

I’m A Hillbilly (but I know to take care of my animals in freezing weather) So I’m Allowed To Rant On This Post!

Will someone tell me why people with a hillbilly mentality want animals but don’t seem to know why their animals need extra care in freezing temperatures)…
I have had at least 8 calls in 2 days on people with animals and they are not caring for them properly in the freezing temperatures. I don’t need or want to go into the mode that leads to anxiety, worry about the horses, dogs and cats suffering in this weather. I wish I could save them from their heartless owners.

I tell the people who call me about their neighbors dogs or horses out in freezing temperatures with frozen water and no food or hay, as we are enduring the freeze in NW Arkansas, CALL the POLICE to come do welfare check on animals you see being neglected.

If I could blink my eyes like I Dream Of Jeanie and help the abused freezing animals, believe me I would.
Call the police on ignorant neighbors or strangers you see neglecting their animals in freezing temperatures.
Please Call The Police to do a Welfare check when you see the voiceless suffering….

01/10/2024

Sylvia My One And Only Wolf Dog…❤️
My Last Story ❤️

A client in my salon signaled me to come talk with her while having her hair styled, “Kim a dog that looks half wolf is living in the woods by our house, it looks starved”. I left the salon late, the sun was going down fast, I knew it would be a miracle if I found the dog before dark. I drove around the neighborhood about 30 minutes and started to give up when I seen her beside the fence line next to the edge of the woods. I opened a can of cat food and her nose picked the scent up immediately, it didn’t take much coaxing because she was so hungry.
I just couldn’t believe how gentle she was, she was not feral at all! I put her in my garage with a bed, blanket and food. The next day I stopped at several houses knocking doors for information on this wolf dog, finally a Woman answered the door and told me Sylvia had been abandoned months ago.
The Veterinarian who spayed Sylvia labeled her Malamute/wolf and gave her high marks for intelligence and athletic ability.

A new housing development was going up all around my 15 acres, Slyvia wanted to jump my fence to meet the builders and all new neighbors. Well they didn’t want to meet Slyvia, people was afraid of her tall slender body, three cornered amber eyes, also Slyvia didn’t bark , it was a howling sound that was quite eerie.
The police called to tell me that the neighbors were threatening to shoot Slyvia, so I had to put her on a lead between two trees while I was gone during the day to protect my wolf girl.
On Saturdays, our volunteers loved walking Slyvia, she loved chasing a ball and running like a deer across the yard darting between the trees as if she was chasing the wind or something the rest of us couldn’t see.
Slyvia was that one and only that we all agreed on, none of us had ever met another one like her. We had several candidates that wanted to adopt her but when took for a seven day trial Slyvia would escape and make the long journey back home to me.
I finally after three trial runs that didn’t work, I said it’s not worth Slyvia maybe being hit on the road, she was my one and only Wolf Baby as I called her.
Slyvia has been gone 13 years and my heart has only grown fonder as her memory lives on forever…❤️

Director/ Founder of Lone Pine Shelter/Sanctuary…

01/09/2024

LOLLY POP ❤️
From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog,”

Well LOLLY POP was that one dog that comes into your life like no other!
A farmer 3 miles down the road called and asked if I could help him with a stray that would not leave his farm no matter how much he yelled to chase her away.
I arrived at his farm to find Lolly laying in the farmers garden, he said “ I hate being mean to her but she refuses to leave”. I bent down and pet her, put the noose lead on her and she got up and followed me jumping into my truck.
The moment Lolly got to my house she followed me every where I went, she wanted me only, there was a soul attachment between us almost immediately.
I let her sleep with me, eat with me, ride with me and even bathe with me. Lolly became my shadow, she had this wailing howl that was like listening to coyotes in the woods at night.
I remember one night we had a bond fire and Lolly laid beside my chair as we watch the hot coals, smoke from the fire seem to dance toward the sky. Lolly lifted her head and let out this long lonely howl and I knew it was contentment she was singing into the night air, she knew as I did that our bond was till death do us part.
I only had Lolly three years, when I had her spayed the vet guessed her to be four years old. When the vet opened her up, her ovaries were like mush, he said she had been bred over and over every heat cycle. When she came down with cancer I just knew it was over the consistent breeding and horrible life she lived before I rescued her.
The last day we spent together before I took her to be euthanized because it was time to release her to rainbow bridge, I looked into her eyes and took her head, put it close to my cheek and kissed her over and over and over again. She knew I loved her! I have never felt a bond and soul connection like I had with Lolly, we had three wonderful blessed years together and I’m eternally grateful God gave me LOLLY POP ❤️…

Director/ Founder of Lone Pine Shelter/Sanctuary…

01/06/2024

Scruffy and “That Lady In The Cadillac”

It was 1995, I still had a lot to learn about people! The lady stepped out of her Cadillac with a beautiful tailored suit on, she was quite classy, educated and came across as a true animal lover.
I showed her around, introducing the small fur kids, the lady fell for Scruffy immediately. I told her she could try him out for 7 days but first he must be neutered. “Oh my veterinarian can do that she exclaimed, please let me take him now,” so here is this well dressed educated sharp nice looking woman, works for Walmart and drives a nice Cadillac! Why not? I didn’t want Scruffy to miss out a chance to find a good home.
I had her fill out some paperwork and I let the lady in the Cadillac drive away with Scruffy and a promise that she would make an appointment with her veterinarian for Scruffy to be neutered. I didn’t charge her an adoption fee since she was paying her vet to neuter him.
I waited 3 weeks and decided it was time to call for an update, a young girl answered the phone, I ask her how Scruffy was doing? The girl said to me, who is Scruffy? I said the dog your mother adopted from my shelter! Her reply was “oh that dog, mom got mad at him because he wasn’t house broke and took him a few miles down the road and dumped him.
I slammed the phone down, jumped in my car and drove the dirt roads by their address, but sadly after weeks of looking I never found Scruffy.
If I had charged the lady an adoption fee, I guarantee she would have returned him and asked for her money back. I learned a hard and valuable lesson, never be fooled by looks, that professional educated looking lady in the Cadillac was the face of deception.
From that day forward no Lone Pine animal left before being altered and no cat or dog was adopted out before we had called the potential adopter’s references and a drive by the property was conducted.
I have took a lot of criticism for my strict adoption rules, that’s ok, because it’s my way of paying it forward for Little Scruff Buff!

01/05/2024

This Story for my book involves ‘’The Mailman”

Centerton at the time of this rescue was very small, maybe 250 residents. I was at the post office getting my mail, when Barney the mail carrier for the rural area approached me. “ are you the dog lady people talk about? I replied “well yes I’m sure I’m the one”and I belted out a big laugh.
Barney started telling about two dogs abandoned at an old trailer 3 miles up the road, Barney told me it was so pitiful he would share his sandwich most days with the two dogs.
My eyes teared up and I said “ no worries I’m on it” I left in a hurry to gather supplies to start a long and difficult rescue.
When I got there the two dogs were laying side by side under the old mangled trailer surrounded by junk and filth.
I lay down on the ground and inched my way to the trailer with bread I could throw their way, I talked to the fur kids softly and told them I would be back everyday. I left a large bowl of water and dry dog feed.
Everyday for two long months I tried to win them over, finally one day they just came running to me and jumped in my van.
My excitement was beyond winning the lottery, I
can’t begin to explain the feeling driving home. I immediately named the boy Cody and the girl Sassy. No matter how much I worked with the fur babies they remained feral to all but me. They had a giant 30 by 60 pen with a big tree to lay under, I would go in every day to love on them with treats and toys. Sassy died at 13 years old and Cody 15 years. They will never leave my heart and mind, they were one of my special rescues to never forget.

Ken who is editing my stories and putting my book together, sure has his work cut out for him with this hillbilly girl!

01/04/2024

A good story that ends well…❤️

I have been labeled through the years for being over protective (I have trust issues),I had some (bad adopters). I’m not just passing out Lone Pine dogs/cats to anyone and everyone. My adopters must have a paper trail that leads to an excellent Veterinary reference and a home visit.
I love every stray/abandoned dog/cat took in with every fiber of my being.
I love them like God loves you and me.
I started helping Centerton, Arkansas in 1976 as they had no shelter for strays, no social media in 70’s, 80’s or 90’s to help find owners. Centerton had 150 residents in 1976, I kept helping Centerton until the end of 2004, Centerton had over 5000 residents by then and the population explosion was still moving at a fast pace. Centerton police had brought me dogs for years, I had 160 dogs by the end of 2004.
At 160 dogs I said no, I’m not taking anymore dogs from the City of Centerton, I will pick and choose the cats/dogs I help. Centerton now has a beautiful new shelter, no need to criticise Centerton.
Our assistant and board member/ secretary Kim Ross at the time found Almost Home Rescue in the New England states to help us get dogs out. Kim started driving on her own time and gas to Little Rock, Arkansas. The transport a (giant doggie bus) left from Little Rock, a 3 day trip to the New England States and many potty breaks and over night stays at various shelters up north till they reached All Most Home Rescue.
Two of our board members flew to the state of Maine to meet their staff and see if this miracle was real.
In my eyes there is no better Rescue than Almost Home Rescue.
Our bond became so tight, Almost Home helped us get an additional 500 dogs out of NW Arkansas.
The only decent shelters at that time was Bella Vista, Arkansas Animal Shelter and The Humane Society For Animals in Rogers Arkansas.

I give all the credit to God who seen my anguish, tears and lonely dark nights fighting for the voiceless.
My passion for the voiceless made me fierce, unrelenting to never give up on the voiceless.
I’m a pioneer that can watch before I leave this earth NW Arkansas step up and Save Our Strays.
I’m going to write a book on my 40 years I gave to the voiceless, it was a fight like no other but worth it.
When I look around and see the new shelter for Bentonville and the new Resource Center Best Friends, who offer education, low cost spay/neuter it brings happiness. Never thought I would live to see this day…❤️

01/04/2024

Friends,
I have one of my Rescue Dog Stories that I call Sleepy Hollow to share.
It was a chilly October night about 8:30 pm when I received a desperate phone call, “Ma'am I was told you would help me, I'm house sitting for my neighbor and there is a injured dog in their garage and blood is everywhere. They don't own a dog, and I don't know how it got in the garage or what to do.
He gave me directions and I grabbed a medical bag and headed about 20 miles into Gentry, AR. where Sleepy Hollow nestles.
By the way, I'm afraid of the dark so looking for the mans house in pitch dark unknown ground for me was a little unnerving. He was in his driveway though leading me with a wave to the back of the house that led to the garage with the dog.
I saw a German Shepard laying quite, very frightened and blood everywhere. I prayed God give us strength to pick this big dog up and so we did get him loaded. I called Clay the director of Humane Society and he agreed to meet me at his shelter. Clay gave him life saving drugs and cleaned him. Half his ear was gone and a huge gash above the eye, teeth marks and holes here and there.
Clay told me not to worry he would survive, I was given daily reports.
Let's move forward 6 months, I'm doing hair in my salon and a nice looking couple comes in asking for me.
We have someone for you to see and they came back with Conrad. I knew instantly that was my Sleepy Hollow boy one ear was half gone, but he was beautiful. Clay had ask them to surprise me. It was another conformation of what my purpose in life was to be—Kim Mathis ( director/ founder of Lone Pine Ranch Animal shelter)

01/03/2024

A story about Bear, the German Rottweiler ❤️

I got a call from the Centerton Police Department year 2001, “please come get a abandoned dog” I made a quick dash to a neighborhood a few blocks away, and found a giant Rottweiler that his size would scare most people.
After 7 days required by law to wait, I had him on the operating table to remove the hardware(Neuter)…
Just about 2pm , I get a call at my salon from his owner who proceeded to tell me Bears name and he wanted to pick him up.
I told him Bear was just getting off the surgery table from being neutered.
OMG this guy almost fainted, Bear was going to be a breeding dog and I had just ruined him.
“My answer was, why did you leave Bear behind when you moved? He says a friend was supposed to have come fed Bear till he found someone to take Bear for a breeding dog. The guy was actually nice, a divorce caused the move and he was so sorry for the abandonment. Bear was never meant to be left alone, his friend let Bear down. I told the man he could come see Bear and he did, but he didn’t want Bear back neutered .

Fast forward, back then I didn’t do Veterinarian back grounds, paper trails, google peoples property, or home checks.
A wonderful sweet lady passed my questionnaire and lived on 20 acres so I adopted Bear to her. I called 3 times and got a good report all was well.
A fight between mom and daughter caused the daughter to call me.
Bear had been beaten by the son-in law and Bear had ran off a week after adopted and her mom had been lying to me.
My neck and ears turned purple from fear, anxiety, a rush of blood to my face. Determined to find my boy at any cost, I tracked house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, street to highway, town to town, flyers everywhere with pictures of my Bear.
I tracked Bear to Noel Mo. Where I met some of the worst low life on this earth.
Chained pit bulls on each side of the porch. Druggies pointed guns in my face to get off their property. I tracked my boy back to Pearidge where he was dumped at a vets office. “3” long hellish months of tracking my boy, a couple thousand dollars in posters, gas and to pay for information. I paid his vet bill and fence the people bought, who I would have most likely adopted him to. They refused to fill out our adoption form so I just paid them, took my boy they handed over and said to myself “ Dear God in Heaven how did I survive this one…

Some Crazy low life hillbilly had apparently fought Bear at one time while they had him, during the 3 months Bear was gone Bear had become mean to other big dogs. Bear wanted to fight! I kept him inside my home with a big fenced yard in an acre run the rest of his life, so he would never be abused again.
Moral to this story? If you can’t do a paper trail that leads to an excellent Veterinary reference, if you can’t do a home check to make sure your dog or cat is safe? Then there is much worse out there for a voiceless animal. Euthanasia is far better than a fighting gambling ring, a chain or a home with drug addicts that beat them, starve them and much much worse! Spay and neuter! Get educated Arkansas!!!!

Director/ Founder of Lone Pine Shelter/Sanctuary…

11/09/2023

One of the Worst Stories Of my Dog Rescue adventures…

Noel Missouri!!🥲
Their make shift dog shelter was a fly infested disaster.
The girl that started it to save strays from dying? She meant well, but lacked funding to do it the right way.

Mark and I took them dog food and wormer to try to be helpful. When we seen the flys, the mud, no wind break, and winter was coming soon, It Broke our heart.
I took Nicole aside, and I told her “ you cannot let these dogs live like this, they would be better off put down”.
Nicole ask me to take the small lap dogs with me, we picked them up out of filth, fly eggs on them and put them in our truck.
Mark and I both cried as we headed home to Centerton, Ar.
I guess I tapped into her conscience, she called me half way home, can you take them all? “I’m closing down. I told her I would start to work on calling for outside help.
I called Romaine Kobilsek Director of Spay Arkansas (at that time) and the ball started rolling fast and furious.
Romaine found rescues all over the 4 state area, they saved the lives of 57 puppies!
Mark and I had to make 4 trips to get 30 big dogs out of the Noel Missouri make shift shelter and find temporary pens to set up at our Lone Pine Ranch Animal Shelter.
The last trip into the Noel shelter, we loaded 3 dogs, the 4th last dog was being left behind to be put down the next day. Hershey didn’t like other dogs and we just didn’t have a pen to put her by herself.
As we were leaving, the wind was strong and howling through the empty shelter, one dog in the back pen all alone.
We got down the road 3 miles, I started crying, Mark we can’t leave her!
Mark turned the truck around and looked at me with tears in his eyes “ I know”.
Back we sped for that one last dog, I called Lynda Arey and ask if she could foster Hershey, Lynda’s answer was immediately Yes!

My husband, Mark Mathis, says I need to not take life so seriously.
The trench work in animal rescue, it has a way of taking down the blinders and keeps you running to next rescue mission. So how do I not take life seriously?

08/14/2023

Friends,
We are desperate for canned food again for our elderly Sanctuary dogs and cats,
If you are able to help, our shipping address is 14230 W. Hwy 102
Gravette, Ar. 72736
Thank you so much for any help you might can give us!

03/28/2023

I have some pictures of the new shelter my husband and I built for the Lone Pine Ranch Animal fur kids. We sure are enjoying the new place, we hope to be unpacked and open to the public June 1st.

03/14/2023

Friends,
Miss Fluff says hello!
Miss Fluff is very friendly, loves to eat anything you will give her. She is up for adoption…❤️

03/10/2023

FRIENDS….Please No Hate Comments if you don’t like what I have to say, you can always leave this page…

There is not a good home for every abandoned dog or cat! when shelters start passing out cats and dogs just to anyone, that dog has a 80% chance to wind up dumped again.
When City and County shelters funded by your tax dollars decide to not euthanise because the public will crucify them on social media?
Then all the dogs and cats that are dumped on city streets and county roads are left behind and not taken in for safety.
They are hit by cars, shot by farmers, starved and in the end a horrific death.

( I spent 400,000 of my own money ( I used money from my own property sales …no debt to worry about a mortgage) not donations by the public) to build a sanctuary for what few I can take in, and some will grow old with me because they have issues and passed by on adopters.
I’m not paid by local government to take in abandoned cats and dogs. I’m 66 and been rescuing dogs and cats for 40 years. It’s time to pass the torch to young rescuers.
I have several to still try to adopt out locally.
This said …City and County shelters are paid ( by their local government) our tax dollars …to get dogs off the streets.
But they are denying the abandoned and lost out on the streets and county roads because they don’t want to be demonised by the public if the dogs in shelter overcrowding are euthanized.
There are no good answers, if the Supreme Court made it law to spay and neuter ( unless good strict rules for a breeding facility) that would take the numbers down drastically for the ones that have to die from overcrowding.

I’m sorry if this post offends anyone, but truth and reality matters and I’m NOT going to pussyfoot around the tulips on this subject. I have a big mouth and I’m not going to shut up because I’m scared to be hated on.
Have a blessed day my friends ❤️…

03/10/2023

How You Can Make an Impact on over crowded shelters.

Spay or Neuter Your Pet. ...
Adopt an Animal from your local shelter...
Microchip Your Pet. ...
Educate Your Children, Family Members, Friends, and Co-Workers. ...
Think Before You Breed or Purchase from a Breeder. ...
Keep Your Pet For Life. ...
Fight Puppy Mills. ...
Donate to Spay and Neuter Programs.

03/09/2023

A Compassionate Goodbye

I receive calls weekly about family who (Dont want grandmas old dog after she passed, or people who don’t want to deal with medical bills and wants to dump the aging pet at a local Lone Pine Ranch Animal Shelter or City/County impound shelter. Here’s my advice….

When animal companions become very sick and are suffering, have no hope of recovery, and seem incapable of truly enjoying life, it may be time to provide them with a peaceful death through euthanasia by injection. Ask your veterinarian to talk frankly with you, and consider getting a second opinion if you’re in doubt. Make sure that you’re not prolonging your animal friend’s suffering because of your own fear of letting go. The tendency is to wait too long, at the expense of the animal you love.

03/09/2023

The pictures I added to this post are the hard/harsh reality of what happens when City/County shelters shirk their responsibility and refuse abandoned/lost animals in their jurisdiction they are paid by officials to help.

Is your local shelter refusing animals? Shelters are supposed to be safe havens for animals who have nowhere else to go, but in an increasing number of communities across the country, good Samaritans who find strays and desperate citizens who cannot keep their animals are hearing the same responses when they try to take animals to shelters: “Sorry—we’re full,” or “We’ll have to put you on a waiting list.” Some shelters require people to make appointments, wait for months, or pay high “surrender fees,” or they drastically reduce their hours or even encourage people to leave cats on the streets, often illegally—all in a misguided attempt to keep animals out.

Why? Shelters are under extreme pressure by laypeople who are opposed to euthanasia under virtually any circumstances and at any cost. They harass and vilify shelter workers who make the difficult but compassionate decision to euthanize some animals in order to keep their doors open to every animal in need.

In response, an alarming number of shelters—in some cases, even taxpayer-funded ones—are choosing to operate like exclusive clubs or boutiques instead of refuges for animals in need. When shelters make it difficult for people to surrender animals, closing their doors and refusing to help, they leave animals with nowhere to turn. Many are abandoned on the streets, where they starve and die in agony of untreated diseases or injuries. Others remain in the hands of people who don’t want them and who may mistreat, neglect, or even kill them.

If your local shelter has adopted this harmful practice and started implementing restrictions or turning away animals, please speak up! The basic steps are simple—documenting your experiences, gathering support, and making your case—and your involvement can make a world of difference to the animals in your community who need you the most.