The Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office is happy to announce our newest initiative, The Badges & Paws program. Badges & Paws partners the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office with Citizens, Businesses, Veterinarians, and Animal Rescue organizations to provide immediate, safe, quality care for abused and neglected animals.

Wagoner County residents routinely call the sheriff’s office for help with neglected and abused animals. While our deputies are versed in the legal process of seizing abused and neglected animals, and the county is adept at prosecuting the offenders, we have identified a gap between seizure and prosecution where we can improve conditions for the animals we help save.

The sheriff’s office is fortunate to have strong relationships with multiple animal rescue organizations who work hand in hand with us to pick up, care for, and ultimately adopt out abused and neglected animals. Unfortunately, rescues and shelters are inundated with calls to place at-risk animals. As a result, many of the animals we seize wait in limbo for the care they need. Food, water, safe shelter, and veterinary care can be days away under our current setup.

We have the heart and duty to help, we just do not have the necessary resources at our fingertips in those emergency situations. Statutorily, a county our size is not required to have Animal Control, additionally, we do not have the budget to house or care for animals in need.


HOW IT WORKS
The sheriff’s office will set up an account for donations, as well as a drop site for food, medical supplies, food bowls, bedding, etc. for all manner of animals rescued by the sheriff’s office. The special account will be used only for veterinarian services and other legitimate needs of the animals rescued or seized by the sheriff’s office. Donations will be tax deductible. The Wagoner County Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge # 228 has generously donated $500 dollars to start the program.
Citizen Fosters and Facilitators will work with the Sheriff’s Office to ensure we have placement for animals. The BIG need will be for Citizen Fosters to temporarily house any rescued animals.

CITIZEN FOSTER(S) - Citizens will be encouraged to apply to become temporary fosters who sign an agreement with Badges & Paws to house rescued animals until they can be legally placed. Citizen Fosters will be required to pass an inspection of their facilities to house whatever type of animals they agree to foster. i.e., dogs, cats, cows, horses, etc. Citizen Fosters will also agree to spot inspections/visits from the sheriff’s office during the period they are fostering. When submitting your application, we request that you send photographs of the facility that will be utilized to foster any animals. Citizen Fosters house and care for animals until a rescue organization can take the animal(s) into their facility and move forward with the adoption process.
The Citizen Fosters agreement will include a Hold Harmless of liability clause, releasing the county and sheriff’s office of liability. Citizen Fosters, although priceless, will volunteer to assist with the program with no compensation.

CITIZEN FACILITATOR(S) - Citizens are also encouraged to apply to become facilitators - volunteers who work directly with the sheriff’s office, rescue organizations, and Citizen Fosters to coordinate the animals’ care. Facilitators are the front line contacts from law enforcement through the legal process of seizing animals. The sheriff’s office will contact facilitators to arrange housing and transport from the scene to the Citizen Foster’s facilities. Facilitators will work directly with a representative of the sheriff’s office to receive funds for pre-approved veterinary needs, food, bedding, etc. Facilitators are responsible for working directly with animal rescue organizations to help place rescued animals in the appropriate rescue after the legal process is completed. Facilitators will field calls, concerns, or issues during the process. Facilitators will be the contact to schedule veterinarian appointments for law enforcement and Citizen Fosters. Facilitators will need to be flexible and reachable. At times, Facilitators may need to perform inspections during a temporary foster if law enforcement is unable to do this in a timely manner.

People love animals. With the sheriff’s office as the organizing entity, we envision robust community input and participation to make Badges & Paws the success our animals need and deserve. If you are an area business, rescue organization, local veterinarian, or anyone that can assist us with this program, we encourage you to reach out to help us make this a tremendous success.

A Badges & Paws amazon Wish list has been created for donations: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/11U3473BK0D3I?ref_=wl_share

Cash Donation - https://buy.stripe.com/7sI00UeEsgLtcrm288

Drop off Donations

You can drop off East side donations at the Wagoner County Courthouse during business hours, located at 307 East Cherokee Street in Wagoner.

You can drop off West side donations at the Wagoner County District # 1 Commissioner’s barn during business hours, located at 30020 East 71st Street South in Broken Arrow.

You can drop off West side donations at the Coweta Quick Change and Wades Chassis Shop during business hours, located at 13467 State Highway 51 in Coweta.

You can find additional information and the application for Facilitator or Foster at the following link: https://wagonercountyso.org/badges-paws-program

The Wagoner County Sheriff's Office would like to thank Banc First - Wagoner, Tractor Supply - Broken Arrow, and Coweta Quick Change - Wades Chassis Shop for being a sponsor to Badges and Paws and for their donations to this new program.