Purchasing pets off base Published Sept. 29, 2009 OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- Outside the gates at Osan there are several street vendors. One of those vendors routinely has cats, dogs and occasionally rats and mice for sale. While the animals look cuddly and cute, they're usually infested with all kinds of viruses and health issues. These health issues not only mean the animals routinely perish within the first few weeks of life with their new owner, these diseases and health matters can be passed on to humans in some cases. Airmen have contracted diseases and parasites from animals purchased from street vendors. Bringing a contaminated animal into the base community threatens pets throughout the base. Regardless of how many treatments the animal gets from a veterinarian, many times there are so many ailments the animal can't be treated. The animals may look healthy, but many times are laden with incurable diseases and have so many parasites that they won't survive. The animals have so many issues that it can get very expensive to treat them, and often times they have so many ailments that they perish anyway. Osan vet clinics have a pet adoption program where interested pet owners can adopt pets. For information about adoption, the clinic can be reached at DSN: 784-6614.