Dogs of Ebola

{Conversation Partner Reflection 5}

Not long before Ebola made its way across the Atlantic to our neighboring city of Dallas, it found its way to Madrid, Spain.  When my conversation partner Aitana was telling me about the looming threat of this fatal disease in a city close to her hometown, Ebola was still relatively new to me.  I knew that is was a deadly disease that had plagued lots of people in West Africa, but I knew not much more beyond that.  Ignorantly, and even selfishly, I kind of ignored the disease, not because I didn’t care, but because it was so far removed from my life that I never really thought about it.

The woman in Madrid that contracted the disease was the first person infected outside of West Africa.  She was a 44-year-old nursing assistant who was caring for a Spanish missionary.  While she was in isolation and being cared for, her husband was quarantined.  Meanwhile, their dog, Excalibur, was euthanized because the pet was suspected to have been infected.  This followed recent discovery of scientific evidence that dogs can contract Ebola and can spread the disease.  While Aitana was telling me about this, I was researching the news online.  There were pictures of the nurse being transported to the hospital inside an isolation chamber by a police escort.  But, there was even more public outcry over their dog being put down despite the protests of the owners.

Aitana and I discussed the controversy of the dog being euthanized.  More than 400,000 people signed an online petition protesting Excalibur’s death, and the nurse’s husband denounced the move by posting a picture of their dog on Facebook.  We both sympathized with the family.  It’s always sad when a dog dies.  I know personally my dog back home is considered a member of my family, and I don’t know what I would do if I lost him.  Aitana also has dogs that are part of her family, and we agreed that losing a dog is like losing one of the family. 

At the same time, I can also see the side of the Spanish officials in Madrid who made the controversial decision to put down the dog.  This was the first case of someone outside West Africa being infected, and they wanted to take every step to contain it as soon as possible.  They feared that the dog had contracted the fatal and contagious disease and to reduce the risk of the dog developing symptoms and spreading the disease, they decided better safe than sorry.  Human lives are more valuable than that of animals, and I like to think that it was a difficult decision for them to make.

To this day, I don’t know if I agree with the officials’ decision or not.  I was happy to discover that the nurse is now Ebola-free and her husband who was under quarantine never developed symptoms.  But, it makes me curious about what would have happened if they could have just quarantined the dog instead of euthanizing it.

I told Aitana that I wondered what would happen if, God forbid, Ebola found its way to the United States, and we were faced with a similar situation.  Barely a week passed when we got the first case of Ebola being contracted in the United States right in our backyard.

Thankfully TCU alumnus Nina Pham is now Ebola-free, but there was some concern regarding the fate of her own pet Spaniel.  However, instead of the drastic decision to euthanize her dog, authorities developed a plan for how to deal with the dog during Pham’s treatment that began with delivering food and water to the dog in her apartment. The dog, Bentley, was then quarantine at an abandoned Navy base in Dallas for 21-days after which, he tested negative for Ebola.  Pham thanked Bentley’s caretakers during the emotional reunion.  There’s a video online of their reunion, and Bentley’s tail is wagging faster than I have ever seen a dog’s tail wag.  I may have teared up.

I find it interesting to compare these two stories.  I’m glad that both women made it through alive and that Bentley was taken care of and quarantined rather than euthanized.  But it’s sad that Excalibur did not share this fate.  I hope that in the future, we will have a more effective resolution to these kinds of issues.