The Angels for Animals facility at 4750 W. South Range Road is now 16 years old and a drive is under way to raise money for a new, larger 25,000 square foot wing that will be twice as large as the building pictured here. (Salem News photo by Larry Shields)

CANFIELD — Since 2000 when Angels for Animals turned an old slaughterhouse into an animal sanctuary, founder Diane Less Baird has experienced her dream, driven by her intensely passionate love for animals, and built into a widely known and one of the most highly regarded animal care facilities of its kind in the nation.

“We fix over 10,000 a year here,” she said of the spaying and neutering program, “and 67 percent of our services are performed for residents of Columbiana County.”

That’s spayed and neutered dogs and cats with 7,000 of that number being cats.

“We still do the Columbiana County dog pound,” she said. Angels for Animals generally has around 30 dogs and 100 cats at the facility .

“We do take animals here 24/7.”

She said the big push nowadays is getting a hold of the free-roaming cats.

“They need fixed before March 1,” she said, explaining they spontaneously ovulate, and the births are very cyclical and the average cat can have three litters a years.

“We need to get them before the first litter,” Less Baird said, explaining one cat in January turns into 30 cats by the following winter.

Angels for Animals just introduced a newest spade/neuter program, called “1-2-3 for $45” that will fix three cats for $45.

The program provides up to two free spay/neuters when one spay/neuter is purchased for $45.

According to the website, “In other words, the client gets up to three cats fixed for the price of one.”

Both of the other cats do not have to be from the same owner. Clients are encouraged to join with a friend.

Its slogan is “save more lives for forty-five” and the program funding is provided by the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust.

The 1-2-3 for $45 program is available for any cat. Prices don’t change for a single animal being fixed. Males are still $35 and females are $45.

Call 330-549-5634 to set up an appointment. Visit the angelsforanimals.org website for details.

Less Baird said people can got to the website and make appointments on line.

“We do on-demand trapped and pregnant cat (fixes),” Less Baird said. “If they show up Monday through Thursday at 8 a.m., we do it that day and get it done.”

Angels for Animals is a “no births” sanctuary. “We haven’t put an adoptable dog to sleep in 10 years. We’re doing the best we can. We’ve seen it over 26 years and try to use common sense.”

In 1990, Angels for Animals averaged 30 dogs and 500 cats without homes. And with the emphasis on cat spaying its now down at the number “we were with dogs,” she said.

“We’ve made the dog problem better and the cat problem,” she said. “We’re not going to let the reproduce if there’s, no permanent home for them.”

Less Baird explained when people bring in kittens to leave she tells them they want the mother so it can get spayed. That’s where the problem is, she said, and people don’t seem to grasp that.

“We do anything we can to get these animals fixed,” she said, noting they have 300 cats waiting on the foster list.

“We try to find an owner, it’s the best we can do.”

The brochure says Angels for Animals has all-care hours, round-the-clock compassion with a veterinary clinic and safe haven for every animal’s hour of need.

Angels for Animals is located at 4750 W. South Range Road (SR 165).

lshields@salemnews.net