TAIL WAGGERS RESCUE

Brookings harbor.

Watching out for you, this is newswatch 12 this morning."

"welcome back to news.

Watch 12.

Looking back at this time last year, i think it's safe to say the 2020 has ended up being a lot harder than any of us could have ever imagined from covid to fire season.

From food to housing people across our region are in need.

Right now, many families have been affected by the hard times this year.

Which unfortunately means so of their pets.

And that's something that we don't often think about joining us today is maria modica, who is the founder of tail wags rescue in grants pass a nonprofit organization.

She also does a lot of work with pets in the homeless community, a lot of incredible work just within the pet community for people in our region.

And who do you have there with you today?

Maria?

This is rob loker and who is wrong?

He's he's my friend and he helps me in the rescue.

So first of all, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about this today, because it's so important.

And like i said, something that people don't really think about.

And so how did your nonprofit start?

Where did you get this idea and what do you do it shortly after i moved here from california and it was just a gut feeling.

I was going to walmart one day and there was all these homeless people with their dogs out there.

And, and i started buying the food to help them.

And i had already worked in rescue from california.

So i just reached out to the donors and said, hey, we, this is all, you know, it's a whole new avenue here.

Let's help them.

And it just snowballed.

I started asking the homeless what they needed for their pets and became.

Coats and sweaters and, and good food.

And, and then we moved into veterinary care.

So now it's this big, a big thing that we do for them.

What's kind of some of the response from people when you drop off, whether it's food, a jacket, callers, or even take these dogs.

I know you take them for veterinary care as well.

What's been the response from their owners.

Usually, uh, we'll get a lot of happy tears that we've stepped in because when we say yes, we're going to help you with your dog at the vet it's often.

And it has often been a lifesaving event.

So they're just, they can't believe it.

Uh, sometimes it's as simple as getting vaccinations and they're happy to have that also.

Uh, we've had people that have been afraid when we've entered the room, because their experience has been that that's we'll hold the dog or because they don't have money for a deposit.

And we, you know, we don't do that.

We take the owner, we take the dog, we go to our trusted vet and we pay the bill.

You just have to tell them the history of the dog and the rest is up to us to take care of it.

We have people that have turned their lives around and they've helped and they actually volunteer and help us to this day.

So why is this so important to you?

Cause i think it's something that not a lot of people think about because the dog, regardless of who owns the dog is still a living being and they have needs.

And if we can help those needs to help that dog feel better, then that's what we're going to do.

That's, i don't want to see any animals suffer at all.

We don't want to see any animals suffer.

So if we have the means to help somebody, we are going to a case in point, i met a gentlemen last year, whose dog had an 2.2 pound tumor honor.

And it would, she would fall over at times.

And so what we did is we had that she was in surgery within a few days, two to three days.

We had the tumor taken off.

We paid for them to get in a motel room for 10 days.

So the dog could heal.

This was in, in december and the dog is thriving.

She's super energetic.

The cancer is at bay energetic.

Thriving.

She's super and the dog is was in, in december dog could heal.

This for 10 days.

So the get in a motel room for 10 days.

So the dog could heal.

This was in, in december and the dog is thriving.

She's super energetic.

The cancer is at bay and she's good.

When you look back on all the work that you've done over these years, for both of you, what's one memory or one event that really just stands out to you.

Every time you think about the work you do, there was a lady under the bridge and i, she just happened to catch my eye as i was getting off the freeway one day and she was there with two dogs and she was going to kill herself and take her dogs with her.

And so i called the police and we put them in a motel that night and we helped them out a lot that all the dogs vaccinated and taken care of and she was safe.

We bought them food and she was, they were all safe and warm.

I there's no words.

There's just no words there just isn't.

I mean, it's something had to be done.

And i was put in that place at that moment.

Yeah.

Sometimes you're just the right person at the right place and you get a chance to help somebody and yeah.

It's you really feel like you are meant to be there."

And as we mentioned - tail waggers rescue is based out of grants pass, but helps homeless pets and their owners across the rogue valley.

It's a non-profit organization that works entirely off your donations and the kindness of others.

They do not have a facility - so they do this work out of their cars and in their spare time.

Right now, they're in need of items like 30-degree sleeping bags, tents, dog beds that are foldable and lightweight, food and pet coats.

They always are in need of monetary donations to support their evergrowing vet bill.

To help you can visit tail waggers rescue dot org or donate through pay pal.

You can also drop off donations to lulu's pet store in merlin, which is open tuesday through saturday.... 12 to 5 pm.

If you're more of a one stop shopper, you can also purchase a bag of pet food in-store to donate.

They do incredible work and help so many homeless families and their furry friends, and that work is only possible