Big Cats and Covid-19

What Can They Teach Us?

- By Lucy Drury

When CFA made the difficult decision to cancel all shows until at least the end of May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its priority was to avoid spreading the virus among exhibitors. At the time, the word out of public health organizations across the world was that the coronavirus that caused the disease COVID-19 in humans could not be caught from other species of animals or given to them. While there was some speculation that this strain of coronavirus had originated from an animal source, there was no evidence of transmission between different animal species. Until there was.

On April 5th, the Bronx Zoo reported that Nadia, a four-year-old Malaysia tiger, had tested positive for the same coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in humans. She had been showing symptoms of a mild upper-respiratory illness, as had three other tigers and three African lions. The initial testing had been performed at the University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Laboratory and was confirmed by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory. There was no doubt—the big cats were infected with the COVID-19 virus. Another tiger who was asymptomatic also tested positive, bringing the total of cats infected to eight. None of the other species of big cats were infected, only the tigers and African lions. All these cats have since fully recovered. As these reports hit the news, there were also scattered, rare reports of domestic cats and dogs coming down with the disease, presumably becoming infected by their human companions. At the time of this writing, researchers still believe the virus is not easily transmitted from humans to animals. Preliminary studies show that only a few species of animals are susceptible; cats seem to be more susceptible than dogs.