County witness describes parvovirus outbreak, 19 euthanized; council and public press for funding and policy changes

Dr. Douglas Pernicoff, a veterinarian who testified under subpoena, told the St. Louis County Council Committee of the Whole on June 26 that a parvovirus outbreak at the county animal shelter in April and May 2025 led staff to euthanize roughly 19 animals after the facility lacked isolation capacity and treatment resources.

Pernicoff said he began working at the shelter on Jan. 21, 2025, and that the first clinically positive dog he identified tested positive around April 19–20. He told the committee, “that animal was, eradicated. We euthanized it,” and described limits on isolation space, staff and supplies that he said made treatment impractical. He told council members the shelter’s population at the time was about 240 animals.

The witness said the shelter lacked sufficient IV supplies and other treatment infrastructure and that monoclonal antibody treatment — an option he described as sometimes used for puppies — would have cost about $1,100 to $1,200 per large dog, which he said made it “not logical” for the county to use that option at scale. Pernicoff said his team prioritized protective cleaning, revaccination and cohorting to stop spread, and he described a rapid sequence of clinical cases that led to most of the euthanasias within a few days.

Why this matters: Council members said the hearing was part of an ongoing investigation into shelter operations after the county took over operations from the previous contractor earlier in 2025. The testimony highlighted operational gaps — staffing, procurement delays, missing standard operating procedures (SOPs) and unclear communications up the chain — that council members and public commenters said require policy and…