HUNTSVILLE — When he was 16, animals helped save Carlos Arreola. Today, he helps to save them.

Since 1999, Arreola has been the owner and chief caregiver at Little Woman Home for Animals, a no-kill sanctuary he founded just outside Huntsville to care for a group of rescued donkeys. Hundreds of animals — from dogs and cats to rabbits and ducks — now call Little Woman home, and for Arreola, it all goes back to a desperate hour in his teenage years.

To escape what he calls a “bad personal situation,” Arreola left home without money or a place to stay. He took the first job he could find, which just happened to be helping out in a veterinary clinic in his hometown of El Paso.

“I just needed a job and I needed a place to stay,” Arreola said. “I lived at the clinic in the back while I finished high school.”

With little money and few prospects, Arreola found comfort in the animals he cared for. He found a way to go to college, enlisted in the U.S. Army and, after being wounded in Vietnam in 1968, returned to the U.S. and earned his Ph.D. in counseling psychology.

He became a practicing counselor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, spending his days helping fellow veterans, but animals were never far from his mind. He traveled throughout the country, assisting in animal rescues and volunteering at local shelters.

When the opportunity came to rescue a group of donkeys from extermination, Arreola, then in retirement, saved them.

“They were going to be shot because they were seen as pests,” Arreola said. “I just fell in love with them.”

To give his new friends room to roam, Arreola bought a 15-acre plot of forest land just south of Huntsville. It wasn’t long before he started adding other animals to his sanctuary.

“I would go (to the Rita B. Huff Humane Society) and ask, ‘Give me an animal that you cannot find a home for,’” he said. “Those were the animals that I would take. These guys came to live here. They fell under the same umbrella as the donkeys as far as I was concerned. This was going to be their home for the rest of their lives.”

Arreola’s sanctuary gradually grew into something bigger than his own private mission, and in 2002 Little Woman Home for Animals became a nonprofit organization. Arreola chose to name his sanctuary after a Chihuahua he adopted in the 1970s after rescuing it from abuse.

“She traveled everywhere with me and in 1976 she died,” he said. “She was so precious that when I bought this property I named the place after her.”

Today, Little Woman is home to more than 150 cats, 70 dogs, two donkeys and a host of rabbits, geese, chickens, guineas and other creatures. It’s a no-kill shelter to the core, right down to the native creatures who roam the grounds. Even poisonous snakes are simply picked up and deposited in another part of the grounds to keep them separate from the domesticated animals.

The sanctuary is funded entirely through donations and pet sponsorships from all over the United States. New buildings are only constructed when no new debt will be incurred by the organization, and Arreola has even established a trust to keep Little Woman going long into the future.

“This place is pretty sound financially,” he said, noting the importance of keeping the sanctuary going — not for the people, but for the animals. “Anything that’s done here is for them.”

The work day at Little Woman begins at dawn, when Arreola begins feeding and cleaning up after the more than 200 animals in his care. Things don’t begin winding down until 10 p.m., and if dogs begin barking in the middle of the night the work goes on much later, but Arreola is aided in his efforts by a small group of dedicated volunteers, some of whom have also been saved by animals.

Martha Snodgrass Hutchinson, a Huntsville native, came to Little Woman in 2005 after the death of her son and found peace among the animals. She was so enamored of the place that in 2008 she moved her mobile home onto Arreola’s property and now lives and works at the sanctuary full time.

“I found this place and it’s my life now,” she said. “This was therapy for me. It’s quiet, it’s peaceful and the animals care. I talk to them just like they’re people. They appreciate everything you do for them.”

Arreola, Hutchinson and Little Woman’s other volunteers are still expanding their sanctuary, picking up abandoned animals anywhere they find them. Many of the animals’ names are taken from where they were found: Golden Corral, Chevron and even Whatakitty.

To maintain its high standard of care for its animals, Little Woman keeps a strict adoption policy. Adopted cats must be kept indoors at all times, and dogs are not to be kept exclusively outdoors. Little Woman volunteers make home visits to ensure that the adopted animals are still being cared for properly and all adoption applications have to be approved by a member of the Little Woman board.

After 12 years, Little Woman remains a massive commitment of time and money. Its animals receive complete medical care, either through the sanctuary’s clinic or through the help of local veterinarians, food is bought in massive quantities, and the sanctuary continues to expand. When asked why he’d rather spend his retirement caring for an ever-growing number of animals than traveling or relaxing, Arreola has a simple answer.

“It’s a choice. Some of us decide to go to school; some of us decide not to. We make choices,” he said. “I traveled all my life, and I didn’t want to travel anymore. I decided this is what I wanted to do. There’s really nothing mystical about it. You just do it.”

To find out more about Little Woman Home for Animals, or to donate or sponsor a pet, visit www.littlewomanhome.org.