Spain trying to execute pet dog of Nurse with ebola

[golden]

https://www.thespainreport.com/11698/brand-spain-execute-ebola-nurses-pet-dog/

The nurse’s husband, Javier Limón Romero—also in isolation in the Carlos III Hospital in Madrid—complained in a phone interview with El Mundo that he was being pestered by the regional health authorities for permission to enter their home whilst they were both in isolation in order to put their pet dog Excalibur down. Mr. Romero did not give authorities that permission.

Madrid’s regional government promptly issued a statement, titled “The Region, in order to avoid the possible transmission of Ebola, orders the sacrifice of the affected [nurse's] dog”, saying it had sought and received a court order to use “biosecurity and biocontention measures” against Excalibur, who will then be incinerated, contrary to the couple’s express wishes, and without knowing if the pup even has Ebola.

El País published an interview with “the world’s leading expert on dogs and Ebola outbreaks” who said: “The dog does not need to be killed, because it is important from a scientific point of view”, adding that: “Killing him serves no purpose”.

Mr. Limón’s plea was shared 18,000 times on Facebook; more than 200,000 people signed a Change.org petition to save Excalibur from death, and #SalvemosAExcalibur (Let’s Save Excalibur) became a worldwide Twitter trending topic

. A single tweet by Spanish novelist Arturo Pérez Reverte—”I propose putting the dog under observation and sacrificing the minister. Easy choice.”—was retweeted 18,000 times. Mainstream media outlets around the planet picked up on the story.[quote/]

 

[golden]

http://mashable.com/2014/10/07/spain-ebola-dog/

Picture heavy of all the cute dogs and a cockateil campaigning to save excalibur (dog of nurse).


I cant find the petition to sign on change.com.

 

[Ren]

I believe this is the petition: https://www.change.org/p/a-los-que-sea-mínimamente-sensibles-poner-en-cuarentena-o-aislamiento-al-perro-de-la-auxiliar-infectada-por-ébola-en-lugar-de-sacrificarlo#share

Info seems to be in Spanish, English, French, and Finnish.

 

[golden]

Thanks Ren.

I am having trouble logging in to sign it. The execution is trying to take place this evening so I am going to persevere this morning to sort out my technological problems out to get it signed a.s.a.p.

 

[golden]

It took me all day to do it but I got it signed.

Its reached 300,000 signatures now but thats not nearly enough with the implications this poses. Hopefully the dog wont be executed this evening, or at all.

 

[golden]

Very disturbing news.

At 2pm this afternoon, Excalibur was murdered. I say murdered, because he was a family member and it was against the wishes of his family. Totally backward and unecessary.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandso...ibur-the-dog-exposed-to-ebola-awaits-his-fate

 

[andre79]

I participated in the twitter campaign to save the dog and i feel very frustrated to find out that the dog was sacrificed. Do we even know if dogs can carry ebola? Not only the poor nurse got infected because of the bad sanitary system, but now they kill her dog with no logical reason. The dog should had been in quarentine, and do some blood test to find out if he was carriying the virus. Not fair.

 

[RustyJ]

yep, they can carry it. There is even some suggestion it can be passed from dog to human.

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/3/pdfs/04-0981.pdf

 

[andre79]

They need to eat an infected animal to get the virus. As far as i know the dog didn't eat the nurse.

 

[RustyJ]

They need to eat an infected animal to get the virus. As far as i know the dog didn't eat the nurse.

Not true at all. They can get it via exchange of bodily fluids. Even licking vomit.

 

[RustyJ]

The complication with dogs is that they appear not to show any symptoms.

 

[andre79]

The complication with dogs is that they appear not to show any symptoms.

But they do show antibodies. Why not test the dog before sacrificing?

 

[golden]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/death-ebola-patients-dog-sparks-health-controversy/story?id=26043752

Research is scant on this subject but one 2005 study by French and African researchers observed dogs eating Ebola-infected dead animals during a 2002 outbreak in the African country of Gabon

. Among the 159 dogs tested from highly infected areas, about 30 percent of the animals carried traces of Ebola antibodies in their blood, suggesting that they had been infected at some point.

However, none of the dogs got sick and the researchers could not say whether the dogs transmitted Ebola to humans. It isn’t known if Excalibur had ingested any infected biological material such as blood, feces or vomit.

Dr. Tom Frieden
, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
, said in a news conference Tuesday that scientists had not identified dogs as a means of Ebola transmission.

“We know in rural areas of Africa, Ebola can infect mammals,” Frieden said, though he declined to comment specifically on the Spanish case.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he couldn’t understand what Spanish authorities are thinking.

“There is no biological reason for the dog to be infected that we understand,” he explained. “Pets and other domesticated animals in rural areas
have not played a role in Ebola transmission that we [quote/]
know of.”

 

[adreno]

Human life has higher value than dog life. Why take any risks. I agree with the decision to put the dog down.

 

[Gingergrrl]

I didn't read the article or whole thread b/c it would make me too sad but it makes me sick to think about the innocent dog being put to sleep if it was not actually ill. There must have been another way .

 

[golden]

But they do show antibodies. Why not test the dog before sacrificing?

Incompetence? lack of compassion? selfishness? lack of humanity?

 

[RustyJ]

Human life has higher value than dog life. Why take any risks. I agree with the decision to put the dog down.

This is a valid argument. If the dog panics and bites the person taking blood, or the carers etc... and you were the dog's owner, how would you feel then?

Problem is that authorities have not released information about the potential risks. In the event of a more serious outbreak in Europe or the US, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a decision to preemptively euthanize pets throughout an affected region.

 

[RustyJ]

Thousands of people are dying of this disease (Ebola) and many thousands more will die, yet people are accepting of this. Have people rushed to sign a petition about helping out those countries affected?

 

[Gingergrrl]

Problem is that authorities have not released information about the potential risks. In the event of a more serious outbreak in Europe or the US, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a decision to preemptively euthanize pets throughout an affected region.

This idea is horrifying to me and how could the government just euthanize pets in an entire region who were not ill or maybe not even exposed? My dog is like my child and I would never stand for this. Please know, I am not criticizing anyone for writing this, just the idea horrifies me!

 

[Kati]

Ebola poses a serious risk to humanity.

Dogs exchange saliva wherever they go. You can't tell a dog to stop sharing saliva wherever he goes. Moreover, it is much harder to quarantine a dog due to the management of urine and feces, you are then putting more caregivers at risk of contracting Ebola.

The nurse has Ebola, contracted it from caring for a patient that died.

The authorities decided it was best to sacrifice the dog, as a public health measure to prevent further spreading of Ebola. This decision has not been taken lightly, i am sure.

When there is a public health concern, the health of humans presides over the welfare of animals.