Coastal Pet Rescue Situation with Bulloch County, Georgia Animal Control

January 23, 2015

Dear Mr. Couch,

I am writing to request your assistance in resolving a matter involving your local animal control. On December 23, 2014, a woman named Wanda Murphy Haynes posted a message on Facebook that a small female dog had given birth to six newborn puppies in a ditch culvert. She asked for help and stated that after her calls to the Humane Society were not being answered. One of our volunteers, Cheryl Garland, who does not live far from Statesboro, offered to assist and take the mom and puppies to our vet, if needed, because they had been subjected to chilling temperatures and rain, making it likely that the newborns were hypothermic and would not survive. At the time of pickup, Ms. Haynes confided to our volunteer, Ms. Garland, that she knew the mom dog had been abandoned by her neighbors who recently moved to Alaska. At the time of pickup, Ms. Haynes signed a surrender form.

After transporting the mom and puppies to our vet, Ms. Garland reached out to Bulloch County Animal Control. She had planned to notify them that the pups and mother were at our vet and had been scanned without a microchip found. Ms. Garland was forwarded to an Officer Mixon who informed her that our rescue had violated a state law of taking in a stray pet, and that our license would be pulled. He told Ms. Garland that she could be charged with theft and asked her how many other animals we had taken from “his” county. Officer Mixon told Cheryl that the county was currently conducting investigations into several rescues that had taken animals from them and refused to give them back or illegally rehomed them. Cheryl assured Officer Mixon that this was not the case and provided names of animal control officers in another county that would provide references for Coastal Pet Rescue. These referenced were never contacted. Officer Mixon then told Ms. Garland that this would have to be investigated further and that he would get back to her. Officer Mixon’s tone and demeanor during this initial call initiated by Ms. Garland was very aggressive and borderline hostile.

During the time that Ms. Garland had voluntarily contacted Bulloch County Animal Control, a woman, Lisa Steele Sanders, began a smear campaign against our organization in the Facebook group, Statesboro Pets. It became so heated and blatant defamatory remarks were made against our rescue that I interceded and contacted the Bulloch County Animal Control Supervisor of Humane Enforcement, Officer Sanders. Officer Sanders informed me that Lisa Steele Sanders is his wife and "administers the Facebook group for" him. Even after my conversation with Officer Sanders, Mrs. Sanders continued to slander our rescue on the page and our volunteer was accused first of taking the animal illegally and then, in a later posting, of trying to hide the dog so that the owners could not claim the mom and puppies. Mrs. Sanders’ postings were not only negative towards Coastal Pet Rescue but to animal rescue efforts in general. In fact, it resulted in a respondent in the group of having second thoughts about adopting from animals from rescues in general.

We have had our Department of Agriculture license for rescue since 2003, and have worked with many animal control facilities in our area over the years, though this was our first experience dealing with animal control in Bulloch County. Other area animal control facilities take our report and often ask us to continue to foster the animals through the hold period for many reasons including but not limited to: limited space; we are able to provide individual attention to special situations such as bottle-fed babies; and the animals will not be exposed to potentially fatal diseases that come with putting animals of unknown origin together. These facilities know that when animal control and rescue organizations cooperate lives are saved.

The welfare of the pets was our primary concern and no malice was intended. We did not list them for adoption, and had offered to hold them in our foster care for as long as Officer Sanders felt he needed to do his investigation. We were treated as though we had taken the dogs with no intention of reporting them. In fact, Officer Sanders stated to me he would report us to the Department of Agriculture for taking a stray pet, though he would include it was not intentional. We asked if we should return the dog to Animal Control and Officer Sanders told us to keep them at the vet’s office, where they were safe, until an unstated later date. Because of the hostile treatment and the lack of documentation that showed we had permission to have the dogs in our custody, we returned the animals to the Bulloch County Shelter the next day, after they were stabilized. When we took the animals to animal control, we did so under duress, and under threats of continued harassment and having our rescue license pulled.

We provided all veterinary information to the shelter. The animal clinic owner Mr. Jimmy Woo even reached out to Officer Sanders directly to try and aid in a compromise to keep the mother dog and her puppies in a safe, comfortable place. The dogs were dewormed, treated for hypothermia, and flea infestation. We incurred $133.02 in veterinary expenses to save their lives, with no idea of what would happen to them once back in possession of the Bulloch Animal Control.

While we were gathering our information together for resolution of this issue, we noted in later posts that individuals were allowed to report animals to animal control and not take them in. We also became aware of another troubling fact - Officer Sanders and his wife, Lisa, operate a breeding kennel specializing in, as their site states, "pure bred and designer dogs." We are concerned, as you should be, that this appears to be a conflict of interest and makes us question if rescues are being targeted, among other things.

Additionally, we are concerned by Mrs. Sanders control of the agency’s Facebook page and how confidential information that could only be obtained from the animal control facility was quickly disseminated through her posts on the Statesboro Pets page. Neither the county nor the animal control employs Mrs. Sanders, she cannot and should not act on behalf of either agency and should not be disseminating confidential information from the agency.

We would much rather have developed a cooperative, mutually beneficial working relationship with your Animal Control to see fewer pets euthanized. This could have been a good opportunity to do so, particularly as it was the day before Christmas Eve. However, that is not what happened, and, at this time, we believe we have actionable recourse for the defamation and harassment and have sought legal counsel.

Because of the emotional investment of our volunteers and followers in this case we would like to be able to pull the mother dog and her pups. We will have them vetted, spayed and neutered, and when the pups come of age, adopted to screened candidates. This is in their best interest.

Attached is all the documentation we collected involving this situation. We are also forwarding this letter and all documentation to each member of the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners as it seems there should be an open discussion for the policies of your Animal Control.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter as we work toward a resolution. You can reach us through our counsel, Wendy A. Owens, Esq. at [number redacted] for further discussion.

Thank you.

Lisa Scarbrough
Founder/Director
Coastal Pet Rescue