Star Tribune
Animal Humane Society closes Twin Cities shelters due to suspected canine influenza outbreak
The Animal Humane Society closed all three of its Twin Cities shelters Thursday and paused pet adoptions for at least a month due to a suspected outbreak of canine influenza — a highly contagious virus that’s rarely been reported before in Minnesota.
If confirmed, it will be the largest outbreak ever of canine influenza in Minnesota as cases of the respiratory infection surge in other states across the country.
“Unfortunately we just have to ride it out … giving animals time in quarantine to rest, recuperate,” said Sara Lewis, the Humane Society’s managing shelter veterinarian.
A dog transported from Oklahoma had been exposed to the virus March 23. Since then, all of the approximately 200 dogs at the Humane Society’s shelters in Golden Valley, Woodbury and Coon Rapids have contracted respiratory infections.
All dogs will be tested, and while none have tested positive yet for canine influenza, Lewis said they suspect it’s the illness based on the dogs’ symptoms, which are like flu symptoms in humans, including coughing and sneezing.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health immediately issued a quarantine of all dogs at the Animal Humane Society’s shelters, suggesting a 42-day quarantine, said Michael Crusan, spokesman for the state agency.
Dogs are sick and contagious for three to four weeks, so Humane Society officials said they’re planning to keep the three adoption centers closed for at least 21 days. It will be the longest closure ever for an animal-related outbreak at the organization, which shuttered for six weeks in 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among employees.
The first outbreak of canine influenza was detected in the U.S. in 2015, but the only reported outbreak of the virus in Minnesota was in 2017 when 13 dogs were infected, said Veronica Bartsch, senior veterinarian with the Board of Animal Health.
She said southern states like Texas have reported more cases of canine influenza likely because they have more stray dogs and densely populated dog shelters than Minnesota. While dog shelters in other states frequently vaccinate dogs for canine flu, the Humane Society hadn’t done so because the illness was so rare in Minnesota, Lewis said, adding that they’ll vaccinate dogs for canine influenza going forward.
“Now that we’ve seen it in Minnesota, we know it can come anywhere,” she said. “We’re just treating it as something that is now going to be here.”
Canine influenza isn’t transmittable to humans or most other animals, but it is more serious than kennel cough, a respiratory disease dogs can get that’s akin to a mild cold. Canine influenza can cause higher fevers, more coughing and possibly morph into severe pneumonia, Bartsch said. She recommends that dog owners monitor their pets and discuss with their veterinarian whether to vaccinate their pup.
She said dogs, like humans, are more likely to get respiratory illnesses when congregating indoors, and dog owners should be aware of that risk with dog boarding, day care facilities or other indoor group settings.
Lewis said a majority of the dogs at the Humane Society are likely to recover and the organization is alerting anyone who adopted a dog since March 23 about the possibility of the illness.
At the nonprofit’s Golden Valley adoption center, visitors showing up to adopt a pet were turned away Thursday. The pause on adoptions also means the nonprofit won’t be able to accept new dogs to its shelters. But leaders said they hope the closures will stem the spread of the virus in the state.
“We’re doing this not just to protect and take care of the animals that are here, but obviously to protect and care for the animals that are in our community, knowing this is a community that has a lot of dogs,” said Lisa Baumgartner Bonds, the nonprofit’s chief advancement officer. “We don’t want this to go beyond us.”
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
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