Madrid Dog Names

And there were protesters lining up the streets of Madrid as well. People who chanted out "assassins!" to the Spanish authorities. Hundreds of thousands of petition signatures were collected, animal lovers around the world showed extreme outcry, and yet, Excalibur was put down by the Spanish health officials. And it all started when Teresa, a nurse, was diagnosed with Ebola. She had contracted it when treating a victim who came from Sierra Leone.

Officials from Madrid's regional government got a court order to euthanize the pet despite uncertainty over whether or not he was infected as well. And it became a huge thing. Teresa's husband, Javier, was taken away and put in a safe, quarantined area until they could determine whether or not he was infected. Turns out he wasn't so he reached out to a popular radio talk show in a bid to save the dog's life. In a statement, he said "I'm in the hospital and I'm making a call to all people to help me save my dog Excalibur, because they want to kill him just like that, without following any procedure."

In a short span of time, the petition on Change.org had 380,000 signatures. A second petition got 70,000 more. And Twitter accumulated over 400,000 relevant hashtag tweets in 24 hours. Still, officials stated that Excalibur was sedated beforehand to avoid suffering, and that he was "put into a sealed biosecurity device and transferred for incineration at an authorized disposal facility."

There aren't any documented cases of Ebola spreading from people to dogs. But there are case studies that suggest that dogs can get the disease without showing symptoms. To this day, no one knows if Excalibur was actually infected or not, because no tests were conducted. He was euthanized without testing. Javier was fine, and Teresa received the treatment she needed to survive. And still, years later, Excalibur is a sore subject for the people of Spain, whom are well-known animal lovers and protectors. This was a dark time for the colorful country, one which led to a show of support, anger, and intolerance to animal abuse.