A heartbroken woman was forced to her five family dogs to sleep after becoming the first person in the UK to be diagnosed with a rare infectious disease. Wendy Hayes, 61, was left with no choice but to euthanise her beloved pooches after they contracted Brucella Canis from a Belarusian rescue dog she was fostering.
The infected dog Moosha had only been with Wendy for three days before she started aborting her puppies all over the home in a "horrific" experience that lasted 17 hours. She was initially put on a "stay at home" notice due to a fear of rabies - but both her and the dog were eventually diagnosed with the rare disease two months later.
Human transmission is extremely rare, but the grandmother-of-two also started showing severe symptoms and remains on antibiotics. But her pooches Benson, a 13-year-old Jack Russell, Dougie, an 11-year-old Patterdale Cross, Tiny, a four-year-old Pug, and Max, nine, an unknown breed, could not be saved - leaving Wendy and the family distraught.
