The Gist: A precautionary quarantine has been imposed on the dog area of the Athens-Clarke County Animal Services Adoption Center until April 5, after a slight presence of canine parvovirus was detected in a deceased dog.
What Happened?: On the morning of March 22, a dog was found dead at the Athens-Clarke County Animal Services Adoption Center. The dog had been vaccinated during intake, following standard procedure, but a slight presence of canine parvovirus, commonly known as parvo, was detected.
What is it?: Parvo is a highly contagious viral illness affecting dogs, particularly puppies and unvaccinated canines.
Why It Matters: To curb the spread of the virus, only Animal Shelter staff will be allowed in the dog area until April 5.
No visitors will be permitted in the dog area, and owner surrenders will not be allowed during this time.
Residents seeking to surrender dogs should contact the Animal Shelter by phone for advice. Animal Control Officers will only bring dogs to the shelter that pose an immediate threat to people.
What’s Next?: A necropsy has been ordered on the dog that died. If the presence of parvo is determined to be a false positive or other factors show that a quarantine is no longer necessary, the shelter will reopen for normal service.
Animal Shelter staff have begun and will continue specialized cleaning processes to help minimize the spread of the virus. The cat area of the shelter will remain open for normal operations, as the facility’s design separates animals.
In the meantime, Animal Shelter staff have consulted with the Georgia Department of Agriculture as required, contacted other area facilities that might be affected, and communicated with Animal Services’ oversight veterinarian.
For more information, visit www.accgov.com/animalservices or call 706-613-3540.
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