City of Levelland working to save dogs in shelter after distemper outbreak

everythingLubbock.com
by: Jaxie Pidgeon
Posted: Nov 22, 2023 / 07:40 AM CST

LEVELLAND, Texas – On Nov. 15, the Levelland Animal Shelter announced it would be closing for at least a month after one of its recently adopted stray dogs was diagnosed with distemper.  

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of puppies and dogs.

A few weeks before the shelter’s closure, Liz Farrell rescued two of its dogs. She is the co-founder of a nonprofit called ‘From Texas With Love’ which tries to save dogs from high-kill shelters.

“That weekend, there were 11 dogs that were either rescued through other rescues like mine or adopted from the Levelland Animal Shelter,” Ferrell said. “It was a huge win. No dogs were put down.”

One of the dogs Farrell adopted was named Spider. She said the Red Nose Pitbull puppy was at a foster home when he started showing signs of kennel cough. The visit to the veterinarian ended with a positive test for distemper.

“He’s got pneumonia, kennel cough, another lung situation and distemper,” Farrell said. “It’s a lot for a puppy, but we’re hopeful, we’re crossing our fingers, and we’re really taking it day by day.”

Farrell said she told the shelter right away which announced its closure on Nov. 15. City of Levelland officials said it could take up to four months to disinfect.

“We need to make sure that our facility is cleaned, that we killed the virus that we have in there, and then also try to do what we can to save as many of the dogs that we have in there right now,” said Albert Garcia, chief of the Levelland Police Department.

Pictures of the dogs up for adoption were abruptly taken off the shelter’s Facebook page on Tuesday, which raised a lot of questions from Levelland residents. 

“I want to apologize to our community members as well as those throughout the entire region,” Garcia said. “The reason for that was we can’t adopt out any animals until we make sure that they don’t have distemper, so it just seemed like it was the more appropriate thing to do just to take those particular photographs down. I understand that there’s some people that were concerned that maybe we euthanized all those and they’re not. They’re still with us.”

Garcia confirmed three of the shelter’s 18 dogs have been euthanized after showing symptoms of distemper. The other 15 are still alive and Garcia said several of them are doing great. 

When distemper hit Levelland back in 2020, Garcia said the shelter was told by the state to euthanize all 20 animals. This time around, he said the approach is much different.

“We’re really going to take our time to ensure that we don’t have to just completely put down all the animals that were in the facility,” Garcia said. “We’re trying to do a better job across the board for the animals and our community members at this time.”

Until the Levelland Animal Shelter reopens, its animal control officers won’t pick up, accept or adopt out any animals. The department will only respond to dog bite calls. 

If you would like to donate to the Levelland Animal Shelter, Garcia said to bring your money to Levelland City Hall (1709 Avenue H) and advise the front desk staff that you would like it to go toward the Levelland Animal Shelter. He said the shelter has a line item that’s completely separate from the city and the police department.