Willamette Animal Guild has closed its low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic in Springfield after 18 years, citing leadership challenges, recent facility damage and other compounding setbacks.
The nonprofit group’s board announced the decision in a letter to the community Thursday, April 9. It said the organization, known as WAG, has recently faced “insurmountable” challenges, including major damage to its clinic building from a roof leak last year and the abrupt death of its former medical director, Dr. Marybeth Chaconas, to cancer in May 2025.
The board also said Misha English, the organization’s volunteer board president and de facto executive director for nearly a decade, is facing “significant health challenges” that require her to step down. The letter added that WAG has been unable to find a replacement after years of searching…