--- title: Dog of Dallas Health Care Worker With Ebola Will Not Be Put Down description: Unlike in Spain, where a sick nurse's pet was euthanized last week canonical: https://time.com/3502118/ebola-dallas-dog-euthanized/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-13T15:37:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:44:49.891Z article:section: Health og:title: Dog of Dallas Health Care Worker With Ebola Will Not Be Put Down og:description: Unlike in Spain, where a sick nurse's pet was euthanized last week og:url: https://time.com/3502118/ebola-dallas-dog-euthanized/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797ab58568047575/69876055524fc07bb5de9cc3/dallas-ebola-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 12, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dog of Dallas Health Care Worker With Ebola Will Not Be Put Down twitter:description: Unlike in Spain, where a sick nurse's pet was euthanized last week twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797ab58568047575/69876055524fc07bb5de9cc3/dallas-ebola-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dog Owned by Dallas Ebola Patient Won't Be Put Down by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 13, 2014 3:37 PM CUT  A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 12, 2014. A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 12, 2014.Jaime R. Carrero—Reuters by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 13, 2014 3:37 PM CUT The dog of the Dallas health care worker who contracted Ebola while treating patient Thomas Duncan will likely not be euthanized, according to the city’s mayor. A dog belonging to a nurse battling Ebola in Spain was euthanized by officials there last week, to the horror of animal rights campaigners. But Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings says the dog belonging to an ill health care worker in the U.S. will be spared a similar fate, [USA Today reports](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/10/12/dallas-ebola-health-worker-dog/17159727/ "undefined"). “The dog’s very important to the patient and we want it to be safe,” Rawlings said. The dog was in the patient’s home when she was taken to the hospital. Hundreds of thousands of people [signed a petition](http://time.com/3481908/ebola-dog-euthanize-excalibur/ "undefined") to keep the Spanish’s nurse’s dog alive, but it was put down out of concern that it could transmit the virus. There’s been no documented cases of Ebola spreading from dogs to humans, but the virus has spread [from other animals](http://time.com/3480961/ebola-animals-transmission/ "undefined") like bats to humans. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/10/12/dallas-ebola-health-worker-dog/17159727/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3502118/ebola-dallas-dog-euthanized/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3502118/ebola-dallas-dog-euthanized/"},"headline":"Dog Owned by Dallas Ebola Patient Won't Be Put Down","datePublished":"2014-10-13T15:37:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:44:49.891Z","description":"Unlike in Spain, where a sick nurse's pet was euthanized last week","url":"https://time.com/3502118/ebola-dallas-dog-euthanized/","keywords":["ebola","Dog","Dallas"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797ab58568047575/69876055524fc07bb5de9cc3/dallas-ebola-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797ab58568047575/69876055524fc07bb5de9cc3/dallas-ebola-dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 12, 2014.","caption":"A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 12, 2014.","creditText":"Jaime R. 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