Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill held a news conference at the County Center on Wednesday to emphatically deny that there has been an outbreak of the highly contagious Parvovirus inside the county's Animal Services department.
That's despite the fact that there have been four positive cases of dogs being infected with the virus in the past week.
Flanked by a number of high ranking officials, including County Commissioners Kevin Beckner and Sandy Murman, Merrill said it was important that he inform the media and the public to get the full story about "rumors about disease at our shelter."
"There's a fear factor out there, and that's contrary to what we want to achieve," the always measured Merrill told reporters. "There has not been an explanation of the facts."
