Covid strikes San Diego Zoo Snow Leopard

[packman]

SAN DIEGO (July 23, 2021) – A male snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo is suspected to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. On Thursday, July 22, wildlife care specialists noticed that the snow leopard had a cough and nasal discharge. Fecal samples collected from the snow leopard and tested at the Zoo confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2. The results were sent to the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) for further testing, and those results also were positive. All positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 are required to be sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), where the results are still pending.

The male snow leopard appears to be doing well, and is showing no additional symptoms other than the cough and runny nose.


https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/pr/SnowLeopardatSanDiegoZooSuspectedPositiveforCOVID-19

[Throck]

1. Couldn't they find any volunteers to put the mask on the cat?

[Effete Snob]

2. Who would have thought that leopard was a Trump supporter

[Vinca]

3. What a beautiful cat. Hope he recovers soon.

[Jim G.]

4. I Remember Some Big Cats At The Bronx Zoo Tested Positive Last Year

But I haven't heard of any house cats being positive for covid. I did hear a couple rare cases of dogs testing positive though.

Very puzzling.

[LisaL]

5. Domestic cats can and have been infected.

"We tested 50 cats from coronavirus disease households or close contacts in Hong Kong, China, for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in respiratory and fecal samples. We found 6 cases of apparent human-to-feline transmission involving healthy cats. Virus genomes sequenced from 1 cat and its owner were identical."

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/12/20-2786_article

[Jim G.]

7. Well That's Not Good

And I totally missed that blurb too.

[MustLoveBeagles]

6. Oh no

I hope he feels better soon.

[StarryNite]

8. I hope he gets well soon.

What a beauty he is.