The Walker County Animal Shelter is temporarily closed after bringing in a stray that had parvovirus.

Over the next two weeks, the animal shelter will be disinfecting and sanitizing the shelter. The shelter says it will be closely monitoring every animal for signs of illness to make sure no other animals are affected.

The animal shelter will reopen with normal business hours on October 6.

The young stray that became sick came into the Walker County Animal Shelter less than one week ago.

Canine parvovirus is a highly contagious virus that may result in vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and other symptoms. It is spread through contact.

The shelter made this statement regarding the incident:

"While we take every precaution to ensure that animals are vaccinated before entering our shelter, this is an unavoidable reality of being an open intake facility. As many of you know, our shelter wasn't designed with a quarantine area, which makes it challenging to isolate animals as we would like. Despite our vigilant efforts, sometimes issues like this can arise, particularly with unvaccinated or unaltered pets."

They add that they will be working with veterinarians and the Department of Agriculture to keep the animals in their care safe.