Spay-neuter program nets results

The Angels' co-founder hopes Mahoning County pound will participate.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- January to June statistics this year compared with the same period in 2003 show Columbiana County's mandatory spay-neuter program is working, said Diane Less Baird, Angels for Animals co-founder.
Less Baird said the mandatory spay-neuter adoption program run by the pound and Angels is still the only one in the state. She'd like to see Mahoning County adopt a similar program at its pound.
Of the 692 dogs at the Columbiana County pound in the first six months of 2003, 383 dogs were euthanized, 237 adopted and 68 returned to their owners.
In the same period this year, of 695 dogs at the pound, 333 were euthanized, 37 sold by Angels for Animals, 38 sold by another animal rescue organization, Safe Haven Rescue, and 173 adopted directly through the efforts of the dog pound staff. There were also 99 dogs returned to their owners.
Columbiana County commissioners adopted the mandatory spay-neuter program for the pound in December 2003.
Before the mandatory program went into effect, the cost to adopt a dog from the pound was $15. The cost now is $50, with $35 going for sterilization and a rabies shot, $8 for the dog license and $7 for pound fees.
Cutting numbers
Less Baird said that, although the cost to adopt a dog is higher as a result of the mandatory spay-neuter program, in time there will be fewer litters of puppies to produce fewer unwanted dogs, and that will result in fewer animals being destroyed.
Veterinarians at Angels perform the sterilizations and Angels and Safe Haven Rescue also take to their shelters any dogs that are adoptable but are not adopted.
Unadoptable dogs are typically those too old, too sick or too vicious to leave the pound.