COVID-19: 7 animals tested positive at Bronx Zoo

Seven animals at the Bronx Zoo have been accidentally infected with COVID-19 by a zookeeper.

Staff at the Bronx Zoo, which has been closed since March 16, first reported that a four-year-old female Malayan tiger named Nadia had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 5 and that three other tigers and three African lions were also showing similar symptoms but had yet to be tested.

Test samples collected from Nadia’s nose, throat and respiratory tract while she was under anesthesia, confirmed that she was COVID-19 positive.

Another tiger that did not show any symptoms for coronavirus was also tested and was subsequently found to have tested positive for the disease bringing the total number of sick cats at the zoo, five tigers and three lions, to eight.

A Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19 along with 4 other tigers and three other lions bring the total number of big cats sick with COVID-19 at the zoo to seven. 

“We are grateful for the cooperation and support of the New York State Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University and the University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where the initial COVID-19 testing of samples was performed and the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory where confirmatory testing was conducted,” the Bronx Zoo said in a statement released on April 22.

The Bronx Zoo also said that the testing of these cats was done in veterinary laboratories and that resources used on them did not take away from those being used for human testing.

“We tested the tigers and lions 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,” the Bronx Zoo said.

“All seven cats continue to do well. They are behaving normally, eating well, and their coughing is greatly reduced, he added.

The zoo also houses snow leopards, cheetahs, a clouded leopard, an Amur leopard, a puma and a cerval but, currently, none of the other cats are exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms.