Ebola: Fellow dogs “launch campaign” to save Spanish nurse’s pet from death

The decision of Spanish health authorities to kill the pet dog belonging to Teresa Romero Ramos, the nurse currently down with the Ebola virus in Madrid, has stirred the anger and emotions of pet lovers around the world.

The nurse, Teresa Ramos Romero with the pet, Excalibur

Spanish authorities took the “safe-route” decision to euthanize the dog named “Excalibur” amid fears that the animal could spread the killer virus. They argue that “available scientific information” can't rule out that the dog could spread the virus and that there was little information about how the virus could behave in a dog.

But the social media is now awash with pictures of pets – dogs, cats and birds- campaigning for “Excalibur” to be saved with the hashtag, #SalvemosAExcalibur (Let’s save Excalibur). They are being posted by pet lovers around the world as part of an international campaign to save the dog.

The owner of the dog, Ms Teresa Romero, 44, from Galicia, Spain, was a member of the medical team that treated two repatriated Spanish priests who died from Ebola contracted in West Africa. She has been in quarantine since it was confirmed she was carrying the virus. Her husband, Javier Limon Romero, and three other people have also been quarantined.

Mr. Romero revealed his identity when asked a Spanish animal charity to launch a social media campaign to stop the planned killing of Excalibur. 

Mr. Javier Limon Romero with Excalibur

It was learnt that Madrid health authorities sought his consent for the dog to be euthanize but he refused. The authorities then went to court where they obtained an order to go ahead and put the dog down.

Apart from the trending social media campaign, thousands of people have also signed a petition in a bid to stop the dog being put down. Last night, more than 135,000 people had signed the online petition.

Check out adorable pics of the #SaveExcalibur campaign pictures:

A Spanish animal rights group, Animal Equality, argued that the government wanted to “sacrifice the animal without even diagnosing it or considering the possibility of placing it in quarantine” even though there has not been any experiment on how long the virus lasts in a dog or what the symptoms look like.

MailOnline quotes Dr. Peter Cowen, a veterinarian at North Carolina State University as describing the move as “an over-reaction” saying: “I think it's very unfortunate they are thinking of euthanising that dog. They should really study it instead.

“Ebola has never been documented to be spread by a dog, and that's clearly not a major route of spread in the outbreak in Africa”.