Thousands dead in Africa-Ebola and the dog

Thousands dead in Africa, and a dog in Spain becomes the face of Ebola

A mixed-breed dog named Excalibur was fast on his way Wednesday to becoming one of the most famous hounds in the world. #SalvemosExcalibur began trending on Twitter on Tuesday after his Spanish owners — a nurse and her husband — were put in quarantine for Ebola. The nurse has the virus, her husband may have it, and their dog is set to euthanized by Spanish authorities.

The public outcry that has ensued has been a further black eye for a government facing the scorn of the world after the first Ebola infection outside of the affected African nations happened right under their noses.

A petition to save the dog at Change.org has, at press time, nearly 340,000 signatures. Still, as of late Wednesday here in Madrid, his future was uncertain. There were reports that an ambulance had whisked him away.

Who wouldn’t feel for Excalibur — by all accounts a gentle and loving dog who has done nothing to deserve his, at best, uncertain fate? And many Twitter users suggested that, as Excalibur hasn’t even been tested for Ebola, killing him is a waste; if kept alive he could even lead to new insights into the transmission of the illness between humans and pets.

But, on the other side of the coin, some questioned the magnitude of the outpouring over a dog when so relatively little global concern has emerged for the thousands of Africans already dead. Channel 4 out of London noted that the nearest most popular Ebola-related petition on Change.org is one that pleads for fast-track drug and vaccine research; it has somewhat more than 150,000 signatures.

This tweet more or less expressed those thoughts about some missing interest in the human side of Ebola:

its a conspiracy i tell you!!  ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

The deed is done.