MADRID (AP) — The husband of a Spanish nursing assistant who beat Ebola says he feels bitter that authorities killed their pet dog Excalibur, which he says the couple looked upon as “the son we never had.”

Javier Limon said Monday that officials gave him no opportunity to argue against the decision to euthanize the mixed-breed dog. Limon was quarantined in the same hospital where his wife Teresa Romero was treated for the deadly virus.

Spanish health authorities ordered the killing of the dog Oct. 8, fearing a risk of transmission. In the United States, officials opted to quarantine a King Charles Spaniel belonging to an infected Dallas nurse.

Limon said Spanish officials missed an opportunity to study whether Ebola can be transmitted by dogs.

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