An official in New South Wales, Australia, ordered the execution of several impounded rescue dogs as a way to stop volunteers from picking them up and therefore spreading the virus—even though there were no active cases of the virus where the shootings took place. The Office of the Local Government is now investigating the incident and issued a statement trying to explain what happened. “OLG has been informed that the council decided to take this course of action to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” the agency said in a statement. Animal rights groups have petitioned the government for a thorough investigation to determine if other rescue dogs were killed. “We are deeply distressed and completely appalled by this callous dog shooting and we totally reject council’s unacceptable justifications that this killing was apparently undertaken as part of a COVID- safe plan,” the Animal Liberation’s regional campaign manager, said in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.