INDIAN MOUND, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Sitting on his couch, Jackie “JD” Sagley thumbed through a scrapbook full of pictures from his wedding 15 years ago and said with a smile, “Lisa saw the good in everyone. She took in strays with four legs and two.”
A year and a half ago, in July 2023, Clarksville Now toured Sagley’s Biker Bully Farm (SBBF) at Lisa Sagley’s invitation as part of an article about pet dumping being on the rise for rural rescues. The dogs on the property at the time were well taken care of and healthy. But on Dec. 24, a local rescue ventured out to SBBF to lend a hand after Lisa Sagley’s death and found 37 dogs on the property in “deplorable” condition.
On Friday, JD invited Clarksville Now back out to tour the rescue again, and to hear his take on the last three weeks of controversy.
Lisa’s passing, discovery of conditions
On Dec. 18, 2024, JD was working a job at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, when he got a call from Stewart County paramedics saying that Lisa, 60, had been found deceased. Immediately, a friend drove JD back to his Indian Mound home, where he was met by several people, including Brian Cadwallader, a trusted friend and former worker at SBBF.
It was a long night that stretched into the early hours of the morning. With family trickling into town, the kennel techs continued to care for the animals, JD said. “We figured they (the workers) had it under control,” JD said.
But then he and Cadwallader decided to go check on things. “We got out there and started looking at the dogs and realized that the standard wasn’t what it was at one time.”
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In response to the need for help, fellow rescue workers and former volunteers flocked to SBBF on Dec. 23 and Christmas Eve. Among them was Mikaela Lambert, owner of Mikaela’s Mutt Motel in Clarksville, who brought a team of 20 volunteers. When JD saw the overwhelming support, he said, “We were very grateful for it.”
But the volunteers were shocked by the dogs’ poor health and living conditions. Many of the dogs were emaciated and malnourished, flea-ridden, suffering from tumors, and behind on their vaccinations. Kennels were covered in feces, and water bowls were full of algae, mold and debris.
With problems that must have built up over several weeks or months, many people wondered how things got so bad.
‘They took advantage of her’
In 2023, JD had a contracting job that kept him traveling, sometimes being away from home for up to six months at a time. Over the last year, Lisa’s health began to decline, affecting her mobility and her ability to work on the rescue, according to JD. Even basic human functions became increasingly difficult.
“Lisa was a very proud person,” JD said. “When I finally got her to go to the VA and get her disability rating, before that, her words were, ‘I don’t want to be broken.'”
In February 2024, JD accepted a new job that would allow him to come home for a weekend every two weeks. He spent his time at home taking Lisa to medical appointments and tending to her. Due to Lisa’s lack of mobility, JD said, she wasn’t able to go out and inspect the kennel techs’ work, and she took their word at face value that everything was fine.
After the conditions were discovered, former employee Cadwallader had questions of his own. “I started an internal investigation, trying to figure out what the hell happened,” he told Clarksville Now. “How did it get like that? Who failed Lisa?”
Cadwallader had worked for SBBF for many years, teaching the volunteers and kennel techs how to properly care for the dogs and testing rescue dogs’ behavior. But in the summer of 2023, he and his family moved into a new home and he opened a construction business, leaving the rescue in the hands of the workers Lisa had hired. They were paid as contract workers, not formal employees.
With Lisa’s health declining, JD’s intermittent presence, and Cadwallader’s absence, it was up to the kennel techs to take care of the dogs.
“If Lisa was around today, she would have never let this happen,” Cadwallader said. “We wouldn’t even be having this conversation, period, because it would never be like this.”
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The crew at the time was young and not well-trained by the former crew. “We’ve had a very high turnover rate because everyone thinks working for a rescue is all ‘puppies and sunshine,’ and it really isn’t,” JD said.
“The more questions I asked, the more things started adding up to me,” Cadwallader said. “They (the workers) took advantage of Lisa because she couldn’t get up and go check on things.”
Training new crew
During a meeting between Stewart County officials and the Clarksville rescues and volunteers, it was revealed that JD had fired all of the workers and hired an entirely new group of kennel techs. The Stewart County Sheriff’s Office decided not to pursue charges against JD or SBBF affiliates.
So what does this mean for the future? Sheriff Frankie Gray previously told Clarksville Now he and his deputies would be doing random welfare checks, and JD said Gray has dropped in three times already.
JD has now arranged a contractor job that will let him come home every weekend. He’s pursuing another job that would allow him to return home permanently.
Cadwallader has been at SBBF since Lisa’s passing and hasn’t left. He’s helped hire and train the new crew to Lisa’s standard. Eventually, Cadwallader said, he’ll have to go back to his construction business. For now, he’s determined to see the rescue return to the way it was when he left it.
“Also, my name is pronounced ‘Sage-lee,'” JD laughed. “And that tower of dog food in your previous article? Part of that was a delivery that I had ordered from Chewy, and the rest was donations that people donated in Lisa’s memory. We asked for that in lieu of flowers.”
For more on Sagley’s Biker Bulley Farm, visit their Facebook page.
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