Lions and tigers all had COVID-19 at the National Zoo | TheHill – The Hill

All the lions and tigers at the Smithsonians National Zoo in Washington, DC, recently were infected with COVID-19, and for a time, one lion suffered life-threatening symptoms.

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One tiger, a recently arrived 5-year-old male named Metis, was asymptomatic, the Washingtonian reports, although testing indicated that he was infected along with the others. Beginning September 10, the other lions and tigers came to experience a range of symptoms similar to humans: coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and in several cases loss of appetite and extreme lethargy which is saying something for species that can already spend more time asleep than awake. Even getting up to drink enough water could be too taxing.

The term the zoo uses for its test results is presumptive positive, which is more definitive than it sounds; the official diagnosis comes from a national lab. Only two animals had samples sent for this official round. Both were positive, confirming the accuracy of initial testing.

By October 1, the zoo reports, two tigers and one lion tested negative for the coronavirus on a follow-up.

Treatment by zoo staff appears to have rescued even the most critically ill of the animals, an older female lion approaching her seventeenth birthday, named Shera. (Lions in captivity can live up to 30 years, but life expectancy in the wild is half that.) Dehydration, and, possibly, side effects of needed medication, brought her to the verge of renal failure. But intravenous fluids administered September 18 enabled her kidneys to keep functioning. Two adult male lions, Shaka and Jumbe, were also given IV rehydration the same day. All three were also given additional medication, and had blood drawn. The extra care required full anesthesia, which brings its own risk.

As the Washingtonian recounts, Shera required anesthetized treatment again two days later, and at that point things looked bad. Kidney function was not improving, and the outlet reports that euthanasia may have become necessary. But by September 23, Shera had turned the corner, returning to more typical behavior, including eating and drinking. The National Zoos chief veterinarian, Donald Neiffer, told Washingtonian that the elder cat will likely continue to have reduced kidney function, but nonetheless could have a relatively good life expectancy for her age.

To treat presumptive secondary bacterial pneumonia, the zoo said in a release September 24, all the lions and two of the tigers were given a course of antibiotics. In the same statement, the zoo shared perhaps the only pleasant aspect of the cats treatment, a special menu to stimulate eating, including goat milk, goat cheese, chicken broth, baby food and elk meat.

The specialized care appears to have gotten them through the disease: all the great cats are either recovering or no longer infected.

An investigation was not able to narrow down the exact source of transmission. But according to Neiffer, the animals likely contracted the virus from zoo staff visitors never come close to the animals although Neiffer emphasizes that this transmission happened despite rigorous safety protocols in place throughout the pandemic. Staff vaccination status is confidential, but Neiffer suggests that, particularly in the context of the delta variant, even vaccinated staff could unknowingly infect the cats with the virus.

Virus transmission, or jumping, from one species to another, is common among mammals. Neiffer points out that COVID-19 is thought to have been a disease in wild animals before it was a human pandemic.

But it remains a mystery why these great cats, and no other animals at the zoo, contracted the coronavirus. Cats, including house cats, do seem more susceptible to COVID-19 than, for example, dogs, Neiffer notes. The zoos cheetahs, which live at some distance from their larger feline relatives, escaped the outbreak, although they're still considered a high risk species.

According to Inside Nova, vulnerable species at the zoo and the associated Smithsonian Conservation Biology institute in Front Royal, Virginia, will receive a vaccine developed, and donated to zoos, by Pfizers veterinary pharmaceutical branch Zoetis, authorized for use in specific cases by the USDA. In addition to the felids, Neiffer says that the zoos primates are also at a heightened risk for coronavirus.

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Lions and tigers all had COVID-19 at the National Zoo | TheHill - The Hill