Animals are rapidly catching the infections from humans – at first it was the cats and dogs, and then it spread to tigers and lions in zoos all over the world, and then three more snow leopards who have become severely infected with COVID-19.
Snow leopards started coughing and wheezing
At the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, USA – three big cats started suffering strange respiratory symptoms. Respiratory diseases are extremely rare in wild cats, almost negligible in snow leopards who are better acclimated to the cold weather and associated health problems.
But these snow leopards started sudden coughing and wheezing, and it continued for two weeks before the zoo authorities sprung into action.
The snow leopards were taken for testing, and they tested positive.
This is how the zoo is treating the leopards
It is being suspected that NeeCee, one of the snow leopards at the zoo, got the infection from a visitor who was asymptomatic – meaning he had the infection but didn’t have any symptoms.
The zoo authorities have said that they tested the snow leopards only after taking approval from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Health.
People were worried about the snow leopards and the zoo reassured them that the cats were not injected with anything and there was no blood drawn out – only their faeces were tested to check for the virus.
The zoo is currently monitoring the snow leopards.
More and more animals have been infected with COVID-19
However, it is not the first case of a big cat testing positive for the virus. In April 2020, four tigers and three lions were confirmed positive at an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) zoo in New York. An additional three tigers at an AZA zoo in Tennessee were confirmed to be infected this fall. In all cases, the animals recovered. This week, a zoo in Spain reported four lions testing positive for the virus.
Many different researchers have concluded that while other animals can easily catch COVID-19 from humans, humans have a very low chance of catching COVID-19 from any animal.
That means the snow leopards cannot spread the infection to humans.
A harsh truth
We cannot deny that COVID-19 is accelarating, despite what most of the general propaganda wants people to believe. The community spread has reached a level where it cannot be tracked anymore, and people have been forced back to living their normal ways, while just hoping that we don’t die.
Featured Image Courtesy: NuC
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