A Look At Where Second Chance Serves

As we first told you Tuesday night, the defense attorney in the Turner County dog raid wants a judge to keep animal control officer Rosey Quinn with Second Chance Rescue from working in the county in the future.  The list of communities and counties served by Second Chance is long.

In the past week, Quinn stepped down as executive director of Second Chance Rescue Center. And a judge decided she misled the court while getting search warrants for what's arguably the organization's biggest case in its history. Still, the shelter has responsibilities in many South Dakota communities, and a state's attorney doesn't expect that to change.

For decades, the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society was the only place in the area to take stray or unwanted animals. That changed in 2006 with the opening of Second Chance Rescue Center. With seven years experience as an animal control officer with the Humane Society, Quinn founded her own shelter.  Within months, Second Chance gained the contracts for animal control services in 40 communities, including Sioux Falls.

"Basically we're ready, ready to go. We just need to get the transition done and make sure everybody realizes that if their animals are missing and are picked up in Sioux Falls, they need to come here to reclaim their pet,” Quinn said on December 28, 2006.

That agreement between Sioux Falls and Second Chance ended January 1, 2010, when the contract was awarded back to the Humane Society.  But Second Chance still has contracts with more than 20 cities, and 19 counties including Lake, Moody, Yankton and McCook.

"I've always found them to be detail oriented. I've been working with her in one capacity or another for quite a few years," McCook County State's Attorney Roger Gerlach said.

Gerlach has worked side-by-side with Second Chance on multiple cases and as recently as last month. He doesn't think others should worry about the Turner County ruling, in which Judge Tami Bern said Quinn intentionally mislead the court by withholding information.

"I don't think so. I've had, I don't know how many cases, three, four, five, six, seven and I've never had one of her search warrants even challenged. I think one was once, but it didn't go any place," Gerlach said.

The Sioux Falls city contract came down to dollar amounts. The Humane Society secured the contract for five years, charging the city $584,000. Second Chance's bid for the same five years came in about twice that at more than $1.1 million.