Print
E-mail
Rate
Share
Coastal Humane to reopen for dogs
Canine cough leads to precautionary shelter closure
BRUNSWICK — After closing its doors to canine surrenders for more than a week, Coastal Humane Society expects to begin accepting dogs from the public and adopting them out again early next week.
Executive director Karen Stimpson said Thursday that they stopped accepting dogs surrendered by the public early last week after suspecting an outbreak of kennel cough, which can lead to the more serious illness distemper. The shelter continued to accept stray dogs from animal control officers, Stimpson said, and those were kept in isolation.
After other shelters in Southern Maine confirmed they had seen dogs with distemper, the Brunswick shelter “went into lockdown,” Stimpson said. Eight dogs were placed in isolation pending test results, which on Wednesday of this week confirmed kennel cough, a highly-contagious respiratory infection.
“We just didn’t want to take any chances,” Stimpson said of the shutdown. Referring to last year’s long quarantine because of an outbreak of ringworm in cats, Stimpson said, “What we learned is we have a lot of support with our (area) shelters, just calling around, finding out who has what and what they’re doing about it. The smart thing to do these days is expect the worst, and if it isn’t, great, and if it is, you’ve (taken precautions).”
Symptomatic dogs will not be adopted out for about two weeks, she said.
The shelter plans to “do a big clean” following the isolation and expects to reopen to surrenders and adoptions early next week.
news@timesrecord.com
Executive director Karen Stimpson said Thursday that they stopped accepting dogs surrendered by the public early last week after suspecting an outbreak of kennel cough, which can lead to the more serious illness distemper. The shelter continued to accept stray dogs from animal control officers, Stimpson said, and those were kept in isolation.
After other shelters in Southern Maine confirmed they had seen dogs with distemper, the Brunswick shelter “went into lockdown,” Stimpson said. Eight dogs were placed in isolation pending test results, which on Wednesday of this week confirmed kennel cough, a highly-contagious respiratory infection.
“We just didn’t want to take any chances,” Stimpson said of the shutdown. Referring to last year’s long quarantine because of an outbreak of ringworm in cats, Stimpson said, “What we learned is we have a lot of support with our (area) shelters, just calling around, finding out who has what and what they’re doing about it. The smart thing to do these days is expect the worst, and if it isn’t, great, and if it is, you’ve (taken precautions).”
Symptomatic dogs will not be adopted out for about two weeks, she said.
The shelter plans to “do a big clean” following the isolation and expects to reopen to surrenders and adoptions early next week.
news@timesrecord.com
Share this Article
 |
||
| School absenteeism fluctuates during flu surge |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of timesrecord.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
Popular Searches
