City of Jesup grants Wags Rescue 15 days to place dogs

JESUP, Ga. (WTOC) - Wags Rescue has had a contract with the Jesup pound for the past decade that allowed them five days to try and get the animals sent to a rescue or adopted before they would be euthanized, as part of what they called the Last Chance Rescue Network.

Sometimes, though, they were allowed even more time than five days with no issue. But recently, that window shortened to just three days.

“When you get that kind of order, it creates a complete, delirious chaos for the next 36 hours. None of us put our phones down for 18 hours waiting for that one call from a rescue that will take an animal. It’s horrible,” Kathy Jones, President of Wags Rescue said.

“It was bad. It was really bad. Because we know that we’re really under the gun, and you form a connection with these animals, believe it or not. Especially if you’re here day after day. We’re the ones that are walking them, taking care of them. We’re loving on them, showing them that humans are good,” Simone Gisek, Dog Coordinator said.

Feeling that pressure was unsustainable, but not wanting to give up hope, Jones says she had a meeting with city leaders on Monday to ask for 15 days to get the animals out of the pound. She was offered 10 days but rejected.

“I came back to, the reason we’re here for 15 days is, we can’t do it. It’s not reasonable. You’re gonna kill animals. So we left that meeting with nothing in hand,” Jones said.

Tuesday morning, however, the city offered WAGS the 15 days they requested- which Commissioner Tim Cockfield believes was the right thing to do.

“Our overriding goal with this is never to put a dog to sleep. Our overriding goal is to give her enough time to do what she needs to do as long as we have space in the kennel,” Tim Cockfield said.

If a dog hasn’t been placed after 15 days, and there are open kennels at the pound, WAGS will have another 15 days to place it.

At the end of a 15-day period when there is no space in the kennel, WAGS has 48 hours to place a dog before euthanization.

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