Ozaukee Humane Society Open for Adoptions Despite Distemper Deaths

Dog adoptions continue at the Wisconsin Humane Society-Ozaukee Campus despite a rash of canine distemper that has killed 25 dogs, halting adoptions at the Milwaukee shelter, JSOnline.com reports.

"Fortunately, no dogs have tested positive at the Ozaukee Campus and operations are running normally there," Angela Speed, director of development and community relations for Wisconsin and Ozaukee County Humane Societies, told Patch. "We are not worried about the virus spreading to the Ozaukee Campus or anywhere else. We have it contained and under control at the Milwaukee shelter.

"As dangerous as it can be, the virus is also easy to destroy in the environment with simple disinfectant, so employees are not at risk for carrying the virus outside the building, either," she added.

The Ozaukee Campus will also take surrendered dogs from the Milwaukee area while those shelters work to extinguish this problem, Speed said.

This is the first outbreak in the Milwaukee shelters in at least 25 years, JSOnline reports.

"We have been monitoring dogs at our Milwaukee shelter and as soon as they pass two distemper tests, our veterinarians will clear them to be moved up into our adoption program," Speed said, adding the shelter expects to see adoptions available at the Milwaukee campus later this week.

These dog deaths are not the first time, or the only way, distemper has made headlines:

• Wisconsin Humane Society is not alone: Several dogs were put down after a late-September outbreak in a shelter in Texas, as reported on the Rockwall Herald Banner. A temporary shelter opened in Louisville, KY, in September to help curb the spread of the canine distemper disease in that area, as reported on WLKY.com.
• Distemper takes wild animals' lives, too: A string of deaths of tigers in 2010 was linked last week to the distemper virus. The virus leaves the animals "too weak to hunt"; in the case of the fourth tiger's death, she "probably entered the village looking for domesticated dogs, which would be easier to kill than wild game." Galia was shot to death in the Russian town of Terney, as reported on Scientific American.
• Wild animals can infect domestic animals: An outbreak of distemper among racoons in Washington caused city officials to issue a warning to residents about having puppies or dogs who were not up-to-date on vaccinations in the park, as reported on TheNewsTribune.com.