Bronx Zoo’s tiger queen of corona
FIRST ANIMAL IN U.S. TO TEST POSITIVE
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo is the first animal to test positive for coronavirus in the U.S., officials said Sunday.
Nadia, a 4-year-old female Malayan tiger, was tested “out of an abundance of caution” after coming into contact with an infected staffer who was asymptomatic, according to officials at the zoo.
“This is the first time we know of, or from any of the people we’ve been in contact with, that an animal has gotten sick with COVID,” Paul Calle, chief veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo, told the Daily News.
When Nadia began exhibiting symptoms of respiratory difficulties and other issues, vets at the zoo ran a number of tests before considering coronavirus.
“Because of New York City being an epicenter for COVID right now in the pandemic, we of course wanted to make sure we also did that testing,” Calle said.
The tiger’s sister, Azul, two Amur tigers, and three African lions have also shown symptoms of the virus but have not been tested, Calle said.
Calle said vets at the Bronx Zoo will share all the information they have about the remarkable test result with the global veterinarian community.
“Because this is so new, we definitely will be sharing this information with our professional colleagues so that everyone can benefit from this,” he said. “Everyone caring for lions and cats in other zoos needs to know this information.”
“It surprised us all because in this global pandemic [and the SARS pandemic in 2002] animals didn’t get sick,” Calle added. “They might have been occasional ones, but animals have not played a role in either of these pandemics.”
The USDA is not recommending coronavirus testing of animals or zoo employees, according to The Associated Press.
Some animals have been tested through the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories, but the only one to come back positive so far is Nadia’s.
“There doesn’t appear to be, at this time, any evidence that suggests that the animals can spread the virus to people or that they can be a source of the infection in the United States,” Dr. Jane Rooney, a USDA official, told the AP.
That the tiger was tested at all prompted outrage from some local government officials.
“A tiger in the Bronx gets a COVID-19 test, but there aren’t nearly enough tests available for people in the five boroughs,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) tweeted.
“This is ridiculous. Has Joe Exotic taken over our health care system?”
The positive test result was confirmed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, based in Ames, Iowa.
“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,” a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society reads.
“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.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a small percentage of house pets outside the U.S. have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
“We do not have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread COVID-19,” the CDC’s website reads.
Nadia and the three other affected tigers live in the zoo’s Tiger Mountain exhibit.
Other big cats that live in the exhibit have not shown symptoms, nor have snow leopards, cheetahs, clouded leopards, Amur leopards, or pumas at the zoo.
The Tiger Mountain exhibit has made headlines in the past.
In 2012, David Villalobos, a 25-year-old former real estate agent from Mahopac in Putnam County, was almost mauled to death when he leaped 17 feet from the zoo’s Wild Asia Monorail into the tiger’s den — in what he told cops was an attempt to become “one with the tiger.”