2 days ago
Shenango Valley Animal Shelter under quarantine due to parvo outbreak
An animal shelter in Mercer County is on lockdown due to a parvovirus outbreak.
While staff and volunteers are navigating the rough situation and trying to prevent the contagious and deadly diseases from spreading to more animals, they can't take any new dogs in until they're in the clear from the virus.
What is parvovirus?
A pair of abandoned puppies were brought into the Shenango Valley Animal Shelter in Hermitage at the end of May.
Then the staff and volunteers' worst nightmare came true. One of the pups, whom they named Pip, had parvo.
"Both of them looked as fine as could be. Healthy, eating, drinking and playful. And then just over the next couple days, just, it hit. It was, like, lethargic, not eating, not drinking," said Devin Keeley, manager of the Shenango Valley Animal Shelter.
Keeley said two other dogs then eventually contracted the virus. Sadly, one named Vador, who already had an adoptable family waiting to take him home, died.
She said two other canines were exposed but aren't showing any symptoms.
"Just really upset because we don't know how far this is gonna go. How many do we have to lose due to people just dumping dogs and not taking care of them? It was really hard to come and see your employees crying and upset, and just due to people's neglect of animals. It's really devastating," Keeley said.
The shelter remains under quarantine and still can't take any dogs in. The shelter is looking forward to having more space in its new location, which is in the works and could be built by next summer.
"Our shelter's so outdated, and we need a new one. It's quarantine, but it's not 100%. Because our cement blocks in there are starting to get eaten away, stuff gets passed through the bottom, no matter what we do," said Keeley.
Keeley said people are still dumping dogs. The staff and volunteers are doing their best, and they will likely be under quarantine for a couple more weeks.
"But the community really came together. We got a lot of wonderful donations towards vet bills and a lot of bleach and rescue and KennelSol," she said.
All the dogs with parvo are doing well. But they're not out of the woods yet because the virus is so unpredictable.
"They all look wonderful, barking, happy, wagging their tail. They just want nothing but attention. They're scarfing down their food, acting like nothing ever happened," Keeley said.
If you'd like to help the Shenango Valley Animal Shelter, you can donate. It needs cleaning supplies, including gloves, gowns, rescue/KennelSol cleaner, bleach and shoe covers. You can also make a monetary donation.
