Doors at the Animal Humane Society's adoption centers in Golden Valley and Coon Rapids reopened Tuesday for the first time since April 6 after a canine influenza outbreak sickened close to 200 dogs.
Tuesday's reopening at both locations drew a crowd well before doors opened at noon.
"I would say it's nice and busy, not absolutely crazy, which is perfect," said Dr. Graham Brayshaw, Director of Animal Services at the Animal Humane Society. "That means we can handle the numbers we have coming in. We had people as early as 8 a.m. show up, ready to get things going today."
Since April 6, Dr. Brayshaw and the AHS staff have worked to treat the dogs infected by canine influenza. The Minnesota Board of Animal Health put the shelters under quarantine in an effort to minimize spread.
"At first it was all of a sudden shut down to the public and we couldn't help the animals that we really wanted to," Brayshaw said. "We had just so many sick dogs from canine influenza."
As of last Friday, the Board of Animal Health reported 24 confirmed dog influenza cases including 22 in Hennepin County. There were 196 suspected cases across three shelters in Anoka, Hennepin, Washington.
The AHS reopened its Woodbury adoption center on May 9 ahead of Tuesday's reopening in Coon Rapids and Golden Valley.
"There's never zero risk with contagious disease since you never know what's going to come in and how things are going to spread," added Dr. Brayshaw. "We had good policies in place but we definitely wanted to get them better."
Since reopening Dr. Brayshaw says they've added extra steps to isolation for any dog that shows a respiratory disease that could be canine influenza, lengthened quarantine times, and added extra steps of testing due to potential community spread.
"You can never guarantee you're going to get another canine influenza virus dog coming in the doors, it's just we have better processes in place that if they do come in fewer dogs are going to get sick and exposed, too."
The AHS is hoping to find as many homes for dogs this week as possible as they have close to 100 dogs on the adoption floor, with another 100 ready to move onto the adoption floor whenever the dogs ahead of them get adopted.
"The numbers are not as much the big issue right now as it is the potential help we can go do," Dr. Brayshaw said. "Of the dogs in our care, usually it's about one-third ready to get adopted and two-thirds that are still getting ready to be adopted because they do move pretty quick when they hit the adoption floor. Right now, it's 90 percent ready to go out the door. Now is a better time than any to have a pup get in someone's home."
