Two Gorillas at San Diego Zoo Test Positive For Coronavirus
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 13, 2021
Members of the gorilla troop at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, Calif., are seen in their habitat on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021.
"As I say often to all of you, what tends to resonate in my house I want to make public to you in real time and that's the update in terms of the status of these gorillas in the San Diego Zoo", Newsom said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, says that dogs and cats have been infected with the coronavirus around the world, adding that at a zoo in NY, some lions and tigers tested positive.
Several gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California, the United States have tested positive for Covid-19, in the first known instance of natural transmission to great apes, reported the Xinhua news agency according to zoo officials yesterday.
Like the lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo, which tested positive in April, the three infected gorillas probably contracted the virus from an asymptomatic zoo worker, according to Peterson. The zoo has been closed to the public since December 6.
The gorillas are being given vitamins, fluid and food, but not a special treatment for the virus. That lab and the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the infection on January 11.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park plans to share what it learns with health officials, conservationists and scientists to develop steps to protect gorillas in the forests of Africa. "The troop remains quarantined together and are eating and drinking".
The gorillas infected at the San Diego safari park are western lowland gorillas, whose population has declined by more than 60% over the last two decades because of poaching and disease, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Zoo officials are talking to experts who have been treating the coronavirus in humans in case the animals' develop more severe symptoms. "Fortunately, gorillas at zoos have excellent medical care, and most will likely pull through due to the efforts of dedicated veterinarians".
"They're doing ok. They're experiencing some mild symptoms and we continue to observe them", Lisa Peterson, executive director at the zoo said.
