By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
Nadia, a 4-year-old female Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. She, her sister Azul, two Amur tigers, and three African lions had developed a dry cough and all are expected to recover.
This positive COVID-19 test for the tiger was confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, based in Ames, Iowa.
The cat was tested out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about COVID-19 will contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus.
Though they have experienced some decrease in appetite, the cats at the Bronx Zoo are otherwise doing well under veterinary care and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers. It is not known how this disease will develop in big cats since different species can react differently to novel infections, but we will continue to monitor them closely and anticipate full recoveries.
The four affected tigers live in the zoo’s Tiger Mountain exhibit. One male Amur tiger that also lives at Tiger Mountain has not exhibited any clinical signs, and a Malayan tiger and two Amur tigers at the zoo’s Wild Asia exhibit have also not exhibited any clinical signs.
None of the zoo’s snow leopards, cheetahs, clouded leopard, Amur leopard, puma or serval are showing any signs of illness. Our cats were infected by a person caring for them who was asymptomatically infected with the virus or before that person developed symptoms. Appropriate preventive measures are now in place for all staff who are caring for them, and the other cats in our four WCS zoos, to prevent further exposure of any other of our zoo cats.
COVID-19 is a disease caused by the coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2. It is believed that the virus was first transferred to people at a food market that trades in wildlife in Wuhan, China. There is no evidence that animals play a role in the transmission of COVID-19 to people other than the initial event in the Wuhan market, and no evidence that any person has been infected with COVID-19 in the US by animals, including by pet dogs or cats.
The Bronx Zoo/New York Aquarium/Central Park Zoo/Prospect Park Zoo/Queens Zoo have been temporarily closed since March 16.
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My thoughts and prayers are with you and the four lovely beautiful Angel please heal the lovely adorable Angeles amen from Mrs kirsty Ann Talbot
No evidence, you say. But the implications if housecats can host the virus are enormous. We might see a wave of cat-killing like that which followed the Pope declaring cats were in league with the devil during the Middle Ages.
isn’t possible to now have a. ew coronavirus resulting from
the recombination between the new human oronavirusnand. a feline coronavirus ?
Poor cat. Not only a domestic cat can get the virus but the domestic rat as well. Remember when Denmark killed millions of minks last year. I always thought this is only a human Sars-Cov-2 virus. Stop this Media Plandemic by the media elites causing a mass panic and mass hysteria. I am neither a witness Jehovah nor a witness of Corona. Don’t get be fooled by the “gold-standard” RT-PCR “Test”. There is none standard calibration according to a certain standard. I do not understand why there are still “experts” believing in this bat narrative. The right word “believe” or “faith”. We do know there is gain-of-function research. A bat flying 2000km to the Wuhan wet market waiting for being lunch. A strange theory. This is not science. And listen to Dr. Steven Quay and read his Bayesian Analysis of sars-cov-2.