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Lions, tigers recovering after COVID-19 at Washington's National Zoo

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Julio-Cesar Chavez, Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Screengrab from Reuters video/Smithsonian" s="" National="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/overseas/09/18/20210918-lion.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Screengrab from Reuters video/Smithsonian&#x27;s National Zoo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON - Big cats at the Smithsonian&#x27;s National Zoo in Washington are on the mend after all of them caught the coronavirus last week.</p><p>The zoo&#x27;s chief veterinarian on Friday said the lions and tigers probably got COVID-19 from an asymptomatic zookeeper, and it spread to the big cat population— all nine of them.</p><p>He said the zoo had noticed the big cats were sick because the lions and tigers were barely getting up to move and not eating well.</p><p>&quot;It came on a little bit insidious,&quot; said Dr. Donald Neiffer, the chief veterinarian. &quot;I believe last Thursday we had a single animal who was a little inappetent... but it&#x27;s not something that requires us to jump right on it.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/08/28/21/us-reports-worlds-first-deer-with-covid-19">US reports world&#x27;s first deer with COVID-19</a></li></ul><p>However, he said within 48 hours other cats started developing signs of lethargy, dry coughs and sneezing. </p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s when things began getting quite interesting here and we started enacting other biosecurity measures.&quot;</p><p>After testing the cats and getting them on different COVID-19 treatments for the symptoms, they are now coming back around and should be fine soon.</p><p>&quot;We are seeing an overall trend moving upwards. Based on how they&#x27;re behaving today, the majority of them are eating more, moving around more. There&#x27;s less discharge and coughing. I would hope that there&#x27;s some significant improvement seen in these guys by Monday of next week,&quot; said Neiffer.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1WN6i2ljPY" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Big cats at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington are on the mend after all of them caught the coronavirus last week.

Lions, tigers recovering after COVID-19 at Washington's National Zoo

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Lions, tigers recovering after COVID-19 at Washington's National Zoo

Julio-Cesar Chavez,

Reuters

Published Sep 18, 2021 07:34 AM PHT

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Lions

tigers

Smithsonian's National Zoo

COVID-19

COVID-19 animals

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