Ebola Dog’ in Spain To Be Euthanized By Court Order.
“No good deed goes unpunished” seems to be the maxim that best describes the case of Teresa Romeo. The selfless Spanish nurse helped care for two countrymen as they were dying of Ebola, only to contract the horrific disease herself. But sadly that is not all. Now her husband has been quarantined and a court order has been obtained by the public health officials to euthanize her dog as “a precautionary measure.”
Romeo has been hospitalized in an isolation ward in Spain, so her husband, Javier Limon, has been the one in contact with Madrid authorities about the dog. “I was asked to give them my consent, [to euthanize] but I obviously refused,” Javier wrote in a letter posted to Facebook. “If I did not consent, the public health official said he was going to ask for a court order to forcibly enter my home and sacrifice Excalibur.”Sign the Petition: Tell health officials in Spain to isolate or quarantine Exalibur — not kill him.
Excalibur (Photos courtesy Javier L. R.) “It seems unfair,” Javier wrote of the court order. “If you are really worried about this problem I think you can find another type of alternative solutions, such as putting the dog in quarantine and observation as it has me. Or maybe you will have to sacrifice me just in case. But of course, with a dog it’s easier, it doesn’t matter as much.” Limon says he was ordered under quarantine and thus before leaving to go to the hospital, he left Excalibur several buckets of water and food. It is unclear if anyone was contacted to otherwise care for the dog. The two patients Romero had cared for were missionaries in West Africa, who after contracting Ebola, were repatriated to Spain last month. Both succumbed to the deadly virus shortly after arriving in Madrid. Romero began feeling ill on September 30, her first day of vacation, and was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday. According to the Associated Press, Madrid public officials obtained a “court order to euthanize and incinerate their pet,” via the argument that “available scientific knowledge suggests a risk that the mixed-breed dog could transmit the virus to humans.”
However, U.S. animal experts say evidence does not exist that dogs can transmit Ebola to humans. Michael San Filippo, senior media relations specialist for the American Veterinary Medical Association recently told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that while it is true that some West African dogs have tested positive for the virus, they showed no symptoms of being infected. “There is more concern about fruit bats and non-human primates,” San Filippo said.
According to WHO and the CDC, the Ebola virus may be spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats. In fact, that is the most plausible cause of the current outbreak,ccording to experts. Earlier this month the death toll from the 2014 Ebola outbreak reached 3,400 people with 7,400 infected. The number of causalities keeps rising and if the outbreak is not slowed down soon, the World Health Organization predicts 1.4 million people will be infected by January 2015One Care2 member started a petition asking officials to put Excalibur in quarantine or isolation and not sacrifice him. Please consider signing if you agree.
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