COVID infects animals too! 8 Asiatic lions test positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, May 05: After infecting human beings, now COVID has also infected the animals in India. For the first time, around eight Asiatic lions have tested positive for COVID-19 at Hyderabad Nehru Zoological Park.

 

The officials have said that the lions have been isolated and are getting treated accordingly, adding that they are "behaving and eating normally". This is the first time that transmission of the virus to an animal has been detected in India.

 

 

While giving information about lions, Union Environment Ministry said, "Based on experience with zoo animals elsewhere in the world that have experienced SARS-COV2 positive last year, there is no factual evidence that animals can transmit the disease to humans any further."

 

 

 

 

It is suspected the animals might have contracted the infection from some caretakers at the zoo. Recently, 25 park staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.

 

Experts of the Environment Ministry expressed concerned that COVID might infect other animals in the park through zoo-keeping staff. They said that they keep sending the samples of the animals to CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology from time to time for analysis.

 

 

According to the ZOO officials, they collected samples of the lions through the 'squeeze cage' method where the animals are tranquilized and confined in a cage without any space so that they cannot move. Asiatic Lions are one of the five Pantherine cats that are native to India. The other four are Indian Snow Leopard, Bengal Tiger, Clouded Leopard, and Indian Leopard.

 

After the incident, Environment Ministry issued an advisory to close all zoological parks, national parks, tiger reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries for visitors till further orders to control the spread of the pandemic.

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