Al Pacino stands guard at the gate while Goldie Hawn and Al Franken romp on the front lawn wearing only their birthday suits. A wild Hollywood bash? No, it's just a typical day at the Second Chance Animal Rescue Ranch in Canton, Georgia. Founder and "Chief Pooper-Scooper" Jolynn VanCamp started Second Chance in 1998 and since then has saved over 2500 dogs from death row. Jolynn's unique mission is to rescue the dogs that nobody else will take-- shelters all over Georgia, Jolynn says, "put aside dogs that need special operations, that have been shot, burned, hung, and ones that just look terrible." Jolynn's attitude is that every dog deserves a second chance, hence the name of her group.

The Rescue Ranch is a relatively new project for Jolynn. She purchased the property-- eleven acres in Canton-- in 2002. Before then, she had to rely on foster homes and sympathetic kennels who would house her animals at a reduced fee. She bought the ranch property using money acquired from fundraisers, but since then has been paying the mortgage, over two-thousand-dollars a month, out of her personal savings. An interior designer by trade, Jolynn has had to cut back her work load to only two clients at a time because Canton, still considered the boondocks, makes volunteers hard to come by. Jolynn resides on the property and is the primary caretaker for the 45 dogs currently living there. In addition to the dogs, Jolynn cares for numerous feral barn cats, a goat rescued from a cult, and a rooster saved from a cockfighting ring. The goat and the rooster have become inseparable friends.

Another aspect of Jolynn's program is rehabilitating dogs that have been abused. "These dogs have been damaged by people and we're not ready to kill them just because people have made mistakes. They can be worked on. We don't think they should be swept under the carpet because somebody's damaged them." But getting the ranch project off the ground has been far from easy, explains Jolynn. "There's still a lot of work to do in terms of putting up fencing." She's also trying to renovate two old chicken houses into indoor/outdoor kennels. "We're trying to do a lot of the construction ourselves. We need a plumber real bad, and we're trying to get concrete donated. But we have to do the drains first, and so far we haven't gotten a plumber."

Jolynn has also had to deal with neighbors in the surrounding area who complained about the barking. In fact, she was taken to court on a noise violation shortly after moving the dogs to the property. Jolynn is angered by the memory. "They fined me over 600 dollars and made me do community service, which is my whole life anyway. Then I came home from court and had several messages from a county run shelter saying please come take dogs-- so I'm giving money to the county while the county's asking me to save them money by taking their dogs."

Jolynn tries to lighten up the often overwhelming task of rescue by giving all her dogs the names of celebrities. "There's so much doom and gloom," she says, "so we try to make it fun."

Vet bills alone can run Jolynn up to $6,000 a month, and often she's so tired at the end of the day that she falls asleep with her clothes on. But when asked what keeps her going, passion flames in her voice. "There's an epidemic taking 20 million innocent lives a year. What would you do?"

Donations to Second Chance Animal Rescue & Adoption are tax deductible and can be mailed to P.O. Box 1515, Roswell, GA 30077. Or you may donate by Paypal via their website at http://www.secondchancedogs.org/.

Kelly L. Stone is a writer living in Lawrenceville. Contact her through her website at www.kellylstone.com