Animal Humane Society reopens adoption centers after canine influenza outbreak
(FOX 9) - The Animal Humane Society is reopening its adoption centers following an outbreak of canine influenza which caused three locations to temporarily close.
AHS said the Coon Rapids and Golden Valley locations reopened at noon on Tuesday with hundreds of dogs, cats and other critters ready to find their forever home. Their third location in Woodbury reopened at the beginning of May.
The AHS temporarily closed three adoption centers in the Twin Cities over a suspected outbreak of canine influenza affecting hundreds of dogs. The AHS said a dog brought in from an Oklahoma shelter on March 23 was exposed to the virus, and by April 6, approximately 200 dogs had started showing respiratory symptoms. This prompted the organization to close its adoption centers for over a month to contain the outbreak.
Before the Golden Valley location opened up at noon, people were lined up waiting to adopt.
It was a long time coming for a lot of people like Brianna Levine from Blaine.
"I’ve been looking for aa dog for a while and I just graduated college so when I was at school I was always looking, I’m like when are they gonna open back up so today’s the day. Today’s the day," she said.
Canine Influenza spread rapidly with every dog getting the virus. All have recovered except for the few that had to be euthanized.
Those animal that were put down had comorbidities that made the flu that much worse.
Now, AHS is working at preventing another outbreak.
"You can never 100 percent prevent anything when it comes to the contagious disease from happening. There's always a possibility the risk was really low to start with, but this did happen. So we're putting in further steps to make sure the chance of it happening again is even lower," said lead veterinarian Dr. Graham Brayshaw.
He also said they’re trying to order vaccines, but they’re on backorder due to a bigger than normal outbreak nationwide.
Brianna Levine says she’s just glad it’s over.
She just graduated from college and truly needed a new puppy. "He’s very hyper and I’m a very active person and he’s very goofy and I just need a goofy dog in my life to make me laugh," Brianna said.
Canine Influenza led to a dog-less Walk for Animals
The Animal Humane Society’s Walk for Animals was missing its usual crowd of dogs on Saturday, because canine flu has many in the community concerned. Those concerns prompted a late change in plans from organizers at the state fairgrounds over the weekend.
The canine influenza also led to the AHS not allowing dogs at their annual Walk for Animals fundraiser for the first time in 52 years, but, but other furry critters were allowed to attend the event.
However, now that the nearly 200 dogs who had canine influenza have recovered all three adoption centers are back open and animals are ready to find their forever home. People lined up outside the adoption center to adopt dogs on Tuesday.
Animal Humane Society adoption centers reopened on Tuesday after being closed for the canine flu. People lined up outside to adopt dogs and other animals.
To see some animals that are available for adoption visit the Animal Humane Society website here.