OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter has reopened its doors and they are asking everyone to come out and brig a new pet home.
This is the second time this year they have had to shut down and re-open because of canine influenza.
It has been a stressful and challenging few months for the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter. They have been dealing with something the staff says they have never faced before, but they say the quarantine has worked and their dogs are healthy once again.
“This is the first time that canine influenza has been seen around our community,” Brienne Grayson, Unit Operations Supervisor for the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter said.
They were taken by surprise when a virus, unknown to the area, spread inside the facility to every dog.
“So we felt the best thing that we could do was actually close our doors, protect the dogs that we have here, because we had hundreds and we put them under quarantine, made sure everyone was treated,” Grayson said.
Grayson says the illness is very survivable but extremely contagious which is why they closed their doors for so long, but now that the dogs are healthy.
“We’re hoping that the community will come in and give these dogs their forever home,” Grayson said.
Being closed for so long, the shelter has been over maximum capacity for quite some time.
Because they had to keep all the dogs separate for more than a month, they did not get much play time.
Now that they are back open, they hope to find hundreds of dogs their forever home.
“We don’t want dogs to be here long term,” Grayson said. “This is not a long term environment for a dog. They belong at home.”
The shelter is open every day from noon to five. For the time being, adoption fees have been waived for all dogs weighing more than 40 pounds.