In what would soon be her 13th and 14th tattoos, a Pennington County woman ultimately wanted to support neglected and abandoned animals in Rapid City.

At the second annual such fundraiser for Humane Society of the Black Hills, Kylene Zimmerman, 27, had donated $40 for the image of a cat paw to be tattooed just above her left hip bone and a dragon’s paw tattooed on her right side.

“I have five dogs at home. This is just for all the animals,” Zimmerman said.

It was something that Teryn Lance, tattoo artist at Addictive Ink Tattoo & Piercing who created the living artwork on Zimmerman, was happy to hear.

Outfitted in black T-shirt, jeans and rubber gloves, Lance said Sunday’s 12-hour tattoo-athon had opened its doors at 10 a.m. to three other artists and a line of customers all willing to endure a new tattoo for $20, with proceeds going to the Humane Society.

“It’s been nonstop since we opened this morning with very little time spent on breaks,” Lance said.

Tattoo artist Jason Hill, 27, shared space with Lance and his customers while working on Tim Slowey, 27. Hill, who works at Aasylum Tattoos in Spearfish, came to Rapid City to help.

“It’s been steady,” Hill said of the customers coming through the door.

Last year at the inaugural event, Addictive Ink had to turn away customers at day’s end. This year, the business brought in more artists, implemented a systematic way to ensure that customers had minimum waits, limited the tattoo designs to animal paws, and planned to continue the event Monday.

Hill would use seven needles on Slowey, who was adding a wolf paw to his neck just below the back of his ear. The paw would accompany the four tattoos Slowey already had.

“I wanted to help the animals out. It’s not their fault that they have to go to a shelter,” he said.

Slowey said he got his first tattoo at 18. During a long artist’s session, when the adrenaline dropped, it wasn’t so bad, he said. Slowey considers his tattoos to be a means of self expression.

“All tattoos have a meaning. I don’t get any that doesn’t have a minimum of meaning for me,” he said.

Mary Kost, an Addictive Ink receptionist, says last year’s event generated nearly $3,000.

“Today, it has been a steady flow of customers. We’re probably will double what they did last year,” she said.

Kost said that half of the people showing up at the tattoo parlor would probably be getting their first tattoos; the rest were adding to their collection. Most of the customers had waited calmly for their spot under the needle. Only a few had shown any noticeable signs of anxiety.

“We offered food and drinks to those who were a little nervous,” Kost said.

The paw tattoos had been added to people’s ears, bodies and feet. One customer had a bear paw tattooed on both cheeks of his derriere, she said.

“You know, like bear butt. It makes sense,” Kost said.

Five people from the Humane Society had stopped in to take advantage of the benefit, including David Ford, who waited for his wolf paw tattoo -- one of eight tats he sports. He said Sunday’s event was awesome and that the money would support animal vaccinations, surgeries and food.

“Every little bit helps with every department,” Ford said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.