Order has been given to euthanize dog of Ebola-stricken nurse, but animal still alive, vet says

Excalibur at rest. (Photo: Via Facebook)

Spanish officials have given the go-ahead to euthanize the dog owned by the Spanish nursing assistant who contracted the Ebola virus, after health officials in Madrid argued it was necessary to contain the spread of the deadly virus, the dean of the University of Madrid’s veterinary school told Fox News Latino.

“The order has been given, the decision has been taken so it’s just the sanitary technicians seeing how to proceed in there,” Dr. Pedro Luís Lorenzo, the Dean of the Veterinary school at the University of Madrid, told FNL.

Lorenzo has been kept abreast of the situation by officials with the Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria, or the Center for the Veterinary Sanitary Surveillance, who are in the apartment of Ebola-infected nurse Teresa Romero.

The order to go forward with putting down Excalibur, a mixed-breed dog at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Madrid is set to proceed, despite pleas from his owners and from animal rights groups across Spain that the pooch could not transmit the Ebola virus to humans.

"It seems to me unjust that because of an error by them, that they want to solve this by a quick fix. A dog has no way to transmit anything to a person and vice-versa as well," Javier Limón, the husband of Romero said in his statement.

"If this worries them so much, I think an alternative solution could be found. Like, for instance, putting the dog into quarantine and observing him as is being done with me. Or am I going to be sacrificed as well, just in case? But of course a dog is easier, doesn’t matter as much to everyone."

Despite previous reports in Spanish media that the dog had already been killed, Fox News Latino learned that Excalibur is still in the couple’s apartment and has not been allowed to be brought to the university until the facilities have been prepared to accommodate the animal who might have the Ebola virus.

“That has been done basically out of precaution, because the facilities here are not adequately prepared,” Lorenzo said. “We have a lot of students and professors coming in.”