Highly contagious infection at Lexington Humane Society kills third dog; donations needed
A third dog’s death has been attributed to a highly contagious bacterial infection that temporarily shut down the Lexington Humane Society.
The dog died at the end of last week, but necropsy results came back late Wednesday confirming that it died of Streptococcus zooepidemicus, or Strep zoo, humane society spokeswoman Ashley Hammond said.
The first confirmed case of Strep zoo was discovered last Friday. After working with national experts, shelter officials decided to close the humane society for a 14-day quarantine period starting on Monday.
During the quarantine, all dog adoptions have been temporarily suspended and any strays brought in by Lexington-Fayette Animal Care and Control are being taken to a temporary shelter in Masterson Station.
Preventative care and treatment for the dogs will be expensive and the humane society needs help from the community, Hammond said. Donations can be made by visiting AdoptLove.net.
An adoption center in the Hamburg PetSmart reopened on Thursday for cat adoptions.
Morgan Eads: 859-231-1330, @HLpublicsafety
This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Highly contagious infection at Lexington Humane Society kills third dog; donations needed."