TIFTON — Support from the community and sympathy from the city council has earned an offer to negotiate an extension for local wildlife rehabilitation facility Steadfast Wildlife Rescue.

In rather unusual circumstances for a city council workshop meeting, several members of the community took the stage March 3 to speak on the matter of the facility’s relocation as mandated by the City of Tifton, including Steadfast owner Jessica Pisciotta, who requested an extension on the city’s deadline for her relocation.

Pisciotta reported that she had received a letter from the city Feb. 14 declaring her rescue, which had been operating out of her home for over 20 years, as being in violation of the area’s zoning regulations. She asserted during the meeting that she had been taking efforts to set up a new facility in a different location and raise money for the utilities required to operate the rescue, but stressed she would be unable to gather all of the necessary funds by the city’s established 30-day deadline, ending on March 12.

Pisciotta is one of four state, federal, and rabies-vector licensed wildlife rehabilitators in the state, and the only such in South Georgia. She explained much of the difficulty she was facing regarding a full relocation was due to needing to have state and federally inspected enclosures, built to standard, fully prepared for her animals before they could be transported. Moreover, as her facility operated as a nonprofit, Pisciotta would be unable to access the funds for constructing the new rescue for at least 45 days.

She regretfully expressed that if the rescue was unable to have the new location prepared by the deadline, many, if not all, of the wildlife in her care would need to be euthanized. To prevent this, she requested that the city grant her an extension on her deadline.

A handful of residents who elected to speak at the meeting protested Pisciotta’s rescue, namely for its establishment in a residential area.

Jack Perry, a neighbor of hers, frustratedly noted that buzzards, which he suspected came from her facility, often landed on the roofs and decks of homes in the area, unsettling the residents who lived there. Pisciotta later clarified the birds were likely pure wild buzzards simply dwelling in the area, stressing that the wildlife in her care were not only contained in secure enclosures at all times and counted multiple times daily, but released outside of the county once they had recovered.

Cliff Henderson, a resident living a block away from the rescue, feared the allowance of the rescue in a residential area would open the floodgates for what is allowed in a residential district. He also expressed uncertainty over Pisciotta’s methods of rehabilitating wildlife, claiming that she occasionally exposed them to humans and fearing it would become difficult to properly reintroduce them to the wild as a result.

However, it seemed twice as many community members supported Pisciotta and her work, fervently speaking on her behalf and in defense of her cause.

Paul von Webb, of Arabi, recounted that he had turned to Pisciotta for help in caring for an orphaned fawn, and after her successful rehabilitation of the animal, he came to regularly visit and support her work, thoroughly amazed by her level of care and dedication to the animals she supports. Von Webb argued that the Steadfast rescue should be seen as a treasure of Tifton, and expressed his intent to support Pisciotta in the relocation however he could.

Alicia Story, a resident who occasionally assisted Pisciotta in transporting animals to the rescue, also praised her dedication to her work and skill in rehabilitation, noting that she had witnessed her rehabilitate an animal she was certain would perish. Story took issue with reports that Pisciotta had received complaints about the noise and smell coming from her facility, requesting the police reports stating as such.

And Candace Jones of Americus expressed confusion over why Pisciotta had only just now received a notice of her zoning violation after operating in the space for so many years, and pleaded with the city council to grant her more time to properly relocate.

Mayor Julie Smith asserted that she respected and admired Pisciotta’s work, but acknowledged that as the city’s governing body, she and the other council members had a duty to ensure zoning regulations were kept.

She suggested that Pisciotta could meet with city attorney Rob Wilmot and city manager Larry Lawrence in the time between the workshop and the council’s next meeting later in the month to discuss a plan of action moving forward for what she still needed, or would need to do, in order to fully relocate, how much she expected it would cost, and how much time she would require to do so.

The city council agreed to hear out Pisciotta’s proposal for an extension during their upcoming meeting March 17.