Statesman Journal February 7, 2002

   Last spring, Celina Mesa's dream of starting the only animal care center in Salem was little more than a twinkle in her eyes.

   Today, the Oregon Animal Care Cetner is still from from Mesa's vision of a sweeping, multi-purpose property offering rehabilitation for wild animals and a temporary refuge for domestic ones, as well as an animal hospital, an education center and a refuge for exotic animals.

   But the nonprofit center has made steady progress in 10 months.  It has 17 acres split between two locations, a board of directors, a team of volunteers and all the legal bells and whistles it needs to accept tax-deductible donations.  It even has a Chemeketa student on a work-study assignment.

   "Everyone's the most committed they've ever been," said executive director Mesa, who looks after many of the animals between her full-time job at Santiam memorial Hospital in Stayton and raising her 6-year-old daughter.

   "It seems like we have the right group now.  They're very strong animal activists."

   Neither Mesa nor any of the team members draws a salary for his or her efforts.

   The center also has a growing number of animal residents, including an abandoned enu, 17 llamas and a couple of horses, as well as rabbits, geese injured by fishing line, chickens with deformed beaks and a swan that Mesa nutured back to health after veterinarians said it would never fly again.

   Some of the elements of Mesa's dream have fallen into place with uncanny ease.

   Last spring, she was eyeing a 7-acre piece of land west of Salem as a possible location for the center, but Mesa couldn't afford the property.

   Then last summer, as Mesa visited the property to feed the previous owners' llamas, she ran into Clyde and Lois McCandlish.

   The Salem couple had just bought the place, on Highway 22 opposite Restlawn Funeral Home and Cemetery, to realize their own dream of buklding an animal sanctuary.

   Today, the property, called Animal Landings, operates as a wing of the animal center for permanently disabled animals that cannot be adopted.

   "It was absolutely amazing," said Lois McCandlish, a retired Safeway employee.  "We kind of rode in on (Mesa's) coattails."

   The center also has received help from veterinarian mark Stoenner of Companion Pet Clinic in Keizer.  He donates his time and services, Petsmart on lancaster Drive has donated food and $1,500 worth of pet carriers and is helping the center set up a pet adoption program that will make the group eligible for grants and money for rescue, transportation and veterinarian bills.

   But it has not all been smooth sailing.

   The group's 10-acre property in Stayton, originally leased by Mesa with an option to buy might not be available after this summer becuse of changes in the owner's circumstances.

   "I may end up having to relocate," said Mesa, who lives in an old farmhouse on the property.

   "We get the doors shut in our face a lot."

   The group also needs a president, a director of education, more volunteers and donations of money and equipment.

   The animal center gets some money through its fund-raisers but the demand for animal care far outstrips supply, Mesa said.

   An upcoming project could involve helping to transport and find homes for about 16 starving horses recently found on a property in Idaho.  A court order authorizing seizure of the horses is expected soon, Mesa said.