Eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park have tested positive for Covid-19. This is the first case of lions or any other animals testing positive in an Indian zoo.
All eight have been isolated and are responding well to treatment, the Forests and Environment Ministry said on Tuesday.
On April 24, caretakers noticed that these big cats developed symptoms like dry cough, nasal discharge, and loss of appetite and soon alerted the veterinary team. The animals’ oropharyngeal swab samples were collected and sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) for testing and genome sequencing. RT-PCR tests confirmed the animals had contracted Covid-19. It is believed the disease was transmitted through humans.
“The lions are recovering well and eating properly. We have shared SOPs with the zoo which they are asked to follow while feeding and taking care of the wild,” Dr Rakesh Mishra, the CCMB director.
“Now we are developing a method to test the samples of their faeces. This method would be useful in future as every time it is not possible to collect saliva samples from wild animals,” he said.
Currently, NZP, one of the biggest zoos in Asia, is closed for visitors as a precautionary measure. More than two dozen staffers at the zoo were tested positive for the virus.
There are a few documented cases of animals – large felines – contracting coronavirus. In April last year four tigers and three lions at a zoo in the United States tested positive. All of them recovered. In December four lions at a zoo in Spain also tested positive, and they too recovered.
