The Wesley family's worries weren't the only ones going on. The fact that the virus had made it into the water supply for the town that the Brown farm was just outside of and the fact that the Wesley family's pet Siberian Husky, Mary Alice, had become another Animalian was indicative of the larger problem. And while Animalia wasn't a threat to humanity in the sense that they were still mindless animals with human forms, there were still obvious concerns about containing the virus and making sure that it didn't uplift every animal. Doing so would risk that Animalia's Ten Edicts would potentially come back to haunt Animalia, as predators like Clara, Robby, and Animalia's wolves couldn't subsist on insects and fish alone. There wouldn't be enough of them to go around, and the edict of not eating other uplifted animals could potentially end up being lost as the predators would need to get their protein from somewhere.
The government, including the local city level (both the town of Lyre where the Wesley's live and Animalia being born on the Brown Farmland next to it), the state level, and at the federal level, knew that it would have to contain the virus, and through the summer they had done a lot to try and contain it. Testing had been done to show that at least in the stream and the irrigation systems for the Brown's farm that the water had been cleaned of the virus that had been spilled into it, but the virus had been moving and was now in the water system for Lyre as well. Mary Alice's transformation was one of these events and wasn't the only one. It was merely the first that included someone who had friends already part of Animalia.
And as more animals, mostly pets began to be uplifted, calls began to be made to both the Lyre Police Department and the Animalia Police Department, and the wolves that were running the police force for Animalia were soon answering a lot of these sorts of calls while Sarah and Mary Alice had their reunion with Julie after the two Huskies had matured.
"Ma'am... please speak slowly," the brown furred male wolf officer spoke into the phone in a corner of the lobby while trying to ignore the noise in the background, "and softly. My ears are very sensitive."
"My hamster just grew! He's almost as big as me and totally buff for his size!" a young female voice answered on the other end of the phone, "he was running on his wheel and then he went to drink from his water bottle... I'd just put fresh water in it and then he began shaking..."
"Many animals may look like they're going into seizures when they contract the Animalia Virus," the male wolf officer spoke carefully, "you did remove him from his cage before he started growing?"
"Yeah... but what do I do?" the female voice answered, "I found your number on the website the government set up for Animalia... but what do I do? My folks aren't home from work and I can't go out walking with a naked hamster man."
"Does he seem to be in any pain?" the wolf officer asked.
"No... he seems more concerned about me than anything else," the female voice said frantically.
"That probably means that he likes you," the wolf officer spoke.
"Good for him, but what do I do?!" the female voice answered, "my parents won't let a naked hamster man live in our apartment!"
The wolf officer gave a heavy sigh at that. Animalia was proving to be rapidly adapting many things that made human society function the way it did. It had a functioning town government with Clara as the Mayor and Robby as the Deputy-Mayor as the cougar woman and fox man were the first animals documented to be uplifted by the virus. It had a small town council of elected members including Mrs. Brown to help govern the town and community and keep things in order, and they'd gotten a lot of help from the government as the scientists were both embarrassed by the spill that had unleashed the virus but also intensely curious to see how the non-human society would work alongside human society. It had lead to establishment of the police force that the wolves made up, as well as a fire department of uplifted otters. The only thing they really didn't have was a hospital, but the Browns had been in contact with the vets that had cared for their livestock about possibly opening up offices in Animalia.
All of these things represented progress, but it would still take time to see how well it'd work. The vets were worried that they'd have to become Animalians if they were to work in the new community and the town council was still trying to debate what they're concerns meant. No one felt that forcing the virus on them was necessary, but a few wanted the vets to live in Animalia so that they could be close to their patients, just like many doctors lived close to their patients in human communities. There was also the concerns over human norms and mores as well, as due to contact with humanity, it wasn't as though Animalia was in total isolation with the Brown family being their only human contacts. That included human issues with nudity and why he and his partner had gone to bring in Sarah and Mary Alice earlier for walking around without clothes.
"Can he wear any of your father's clothing?" the wolf officer asked, "that might allow you to get to the shop that is selling clothing for Animalians."
"That might work," the female voice was actually heard to sniffle, "but even there... my folks won't let me live with a strange man that I'm not related to."
The wolf officer gave a heavy sigh, "and you cannot convince your family that your former pet can or will abide by the Ten Edicts of Animalia once he is informed on it?"
"They may accept him as a friend... but not to live together," the female voice answered.
The wolf officer sighed and looked down for a moment.
"I'll see if I can send someone by to pick him up," the wolf officer than spoke, "we'll get him into the hostel here in Animalia until we can get him back on his feet and into a home of his own or into an apartment here in Animalia. If you like, we'll send you his address so that you can visit him and keep in contact with him."
"You'll take care of him, make him happy?" the female voice asked.
"Yes," the wolf officer answered, "and we'll do our best to allow you to be friends with him if you wish. All we'll need right now is your address."
He listened as the person he was talking to gave him the address. He carefully wrote it down and glanced over the Wesley family talk still going on.