Pets become victims of Ebola in Ivory Coast

[Shiloh]

Source: http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/life-style/culture/300969/pets-become-victims-of-ebola-in-ivory-coast


Pets become victims of Ebola in Ivory Coast
September 22, 2014 - 12:00:00 am

Abidjan: From monkeys to big cats, people in Ivory Coast like to keep wild animals as pets but are now rethinking the custom with the deadly Ebola virus sweeping neighbouring countries.

A visit to the zoo in the economic capital Abidjan quickly demonstrated the concerns. The institution has begun to take in animals abandoned by owners, aware that wild beasts can be vectors of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever...

 

[Emily]

Re: Pets become victims of Ebola in Ivory Coast

A little bit of knowledge is worse than none in some cases. This reminds me of the atrocities suffered by pets & pet owners and the unnecessary market animal culling during the SARS panic. Even the civet cat reservoir was later disproved - 'One Health' gone haywire due to misinterpretation of preliminary research.

The zoo?s vet, Daouda Soro, said that he had been summoned in haste to Abidjan?s military hospital to deal with ?an animal who was spreading panic?. When he got there, he found a ?very small (monkey) who was sleepy but shivering with hunger?.

?It was above all Ebola that caused the panic,? Soro said.