Thousands Plea To Spare Spanish Ebola Victim’s Dog

Sign the petition to save Excalibur HERE

The Ebola scare continues to spread across the world. Officials say that a Spanish nurse's aide caught Ebola after caring for an infected priest, who died last month. 44 year old Teresa Romero Ramos became the first person to contract the deadly virus outside of West Africa. Now both her and her husband, Javier Limon, remain in isolation as officials in Madrid desperately attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Now with the couple in quarantine, their possessions will be confiscated and then disposed of....and that includes the family dog, Excalibur. The plight of the mixed breed dog has sparked a fierce battle between local authorities and animal rights activists. Spanish animal rights group Animal Equality is calling for the dog to put in quarantine, and has publicly criticised the Spanish authorities handling of the situation. Whether or not dogs can transmit and spread Ebola remains unclear. One major study done in Gabon (during the 2001-2002 outbreak) says that dogs can, without showing any symptoms. The study researched 337 dogs, from various locations nearby, after seeing some of them eating infected dead animals. According to their studies, 9 to 25 percent showed antibodies to Ebola. Still, the evidence is circumstantial according to many leading veterinarians and health officials.

Spokeswoman for the American Veterinary Medical Association Sharon Curtis Granskog told the media...

"I think it's possible" that dogs might spread Ebola, but it's not likely in the U.S. or other places where dogs aren't near corpses or eating infected animals

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 

No case of Ebola spreading to people from dogs has ever been documented, but "clearly we want to look at all possibilities,"

The fight to save Excalibur has spread to social media worldwide with many sharing ans retweeting the #saveexcalibur hashtag.