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PCR for tigers, bears and hyenas (without anesthesia)

2021-05-15T11:33:30.873Z


The Barcelona Zoo carried out more than 150 tests on the animals of the facility and only the lions tested positive


Run-Run, Nima and Zala —the three old lionesses from the Barcelona Zoo (they are 16 years old) - together with the male Kiumbe (four years old) have been the only animals in the park that have contracted covid19.

The Barcelona Zoo has carried out more than 150 PCRs, especially on felines and primates, without any other animal - 2,000 specimens of 300 species living in the center - tested positive.

The lions only needed anti-inflammatories and healed in less than 15 days.

This is how the zoo workers lived the contagion of Run-Run, Nima, Zala and Kiumbe.

Sito Alarcón, the director of the Barcelona Zoo, explained to EL PAÍS how the park acted after verifying that the virus had directly affected four of the most iconic specimens of the biodiversity preservation center.

More information

  • The four lions at the Barcelona zoo test positive for coronavirus

“When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, news began to proliferate that there were domestic cats that had been infected by covid. The European Association of Zoo and Wild Animal Veterinarians (EAZWV), the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) alerted us to all parks that humans were capable of transmitting the disease. to felines. In April the Bronx Zoo (New York) announced that several of its tigers and lions had tested positive for Covid. It was the first evidence that there could be problems ”, remembers Alarcón.

From the first moment, the Barcelona park divided the caretakers, curators and veterinarians into three groups. One group worked one week, another another, and the third was the checkpoint in case there were casualties. Gloves, masks and protective materials were used in the area of ​​primates, dolphins —the last three specimens from Barcelona were transferred to the Attica Zoological Park in Athens (Greece) in mid-July— and that of felines. So the months went by, without news, until November.

“Our three lionesses and the lion started showing respiratory signs, runny noses, sneezing, coughing… in November. The head of the veterinary services, Hugo Fernández, suspected that, despite the fact that the keepers were protected, the lions could have contracted the covid ”, recalls the director. Veterinarians use different techniques with which they work daily with animals so that when they have to do veterinary tests it is not necessary to sedate them. The Generalitat's Animal Health Research Center (CRESA) was the one that provided the PCR tests and the veterinarians went to the lions' dormitory armed with swabs and with the intention of doing a PCR on the four felines.These animals have been taught to position themselves in one way or another in order to carry out extractions and veterinary reviews on a regular basis. They know what the caregivers ask of them and, according to Alarcón, it was easy for them to approach the bars of the bedroom with their faces for the veterinarians to take the samples. "Animals support the introduction of swabs infinitely better than humans," says the director of the Zoo. 24 hours after the test, the CRESA reported that the four cats were positive for covid.24 hours after the test, the CRESA reported that the four cats were positive for covid.24 hours after the test, the CRESA reported that the four cats were positive for covid.

From then on, every time there was a review of an animal, a PCR was carried out. Always without anesthesia and with the collaboration of the specimens themselves. Tigers, leopards, hyenas, bears, primates ... went through the nose swab test ... more than 150 tests, all of which were negative. No one knows how the lions were infected, although it is presumed that it was an asymptomatic caretaker despite the fact that they were protected. "We know that there have been a score of infections always from human to feline in zoos around the world, although surely there are many more," Alarcón warns.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-05-15

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