this is Nadia the four-year-old female
tiger who became the world's first
confirmed case of kovat 19 in a non
domesticated animal on the first Sunday
of April 2020 the Wildlife Conservation
Society's Bronx Zoo in New York
announced that the Malayan Tiger had
tested positive for the virus three more
Tigers and three lions exhibited similar
symptoms like a dry cough and loss of
appetite and are believed to have the
corona virus as well
New York is currently facing a massive
outbreak of the virus over the past
month it has spread rapidly throughout
the state especially in New York City
which has more than a hundred and ten
thousand cases that's more than half of
all the confirmed cases in the state
zoo officials believe that the animals
might have been infected by a caretaker
who had the virus but didn't show any
symptoms the infectious freshman course
is just very very high and due to the
fact that these animals are in the zoo
setting the contact of the distance
between humans and the animals are very
greatly reduced them that's just
inherent in the way we keep by the
Tigers so the possibility of a spillover
back routines into a tiger is obviously
possible just a few days after the zoo
made its announcement researchers in
China released the results of a new
study which suggests that cats can catch
the corona virus the study aimed to
identify which animals medical
researchers can work with to develop and
test vaccines the researchers say that
cats showed a high susceptibility to
SARS coronavirus two ferrets were also
found to be highly susceptible to the
virus but dogs showed a low
susceptibility and chickens pigs and
ducks couldn't be infected at all so can
we draw the conclusion that cats both
big and small are more vulnerable to
kovat 19 I think it's important to
understand that if this virus has
changed species of jump species barriers
is something that's quite rare actually
so it's not a question of if they are
more vulnerable it just seems that the
corona virus in this case the SARS
coronavirus - similar to SARS
coronavirus one is actually able to
enter a cat so it's not a species which
is easily infected as infection trials
and domestic cats are shown you do need
a very high dose infectious dose
normally infection trials they're
actually given intranasally so you know
that's something that will never happen
in normal natural conditions let's try
to make the significant difference
between real-life conditions and trials
in a laboratory even clear
normal conditions mean that an animal
could catch the virus if it picked up
droplets from a person with kovat 19 or
from a contaminated surface and got them
in its nose mouth or eyes
experimental conditions like the ones
used in the Chinese study mean that a
high dose of kovat 19 is administered to
the animal by injecting it directly into
its nose
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in the world outside the laboratory it's
much less likely that animals will catch
the virus but if the disease is
transmitted cats are more likely to get
infected than some other animals
the study also found that cats can
spread the virus to other cats
but once again other scientists point
out that the results don't necessarily
represent interactions between animals
in real life cat owners shouldn't be
alarmed there's no evidence that pets or
other animals can infect humans with
kovat 19 beyond the initial transmission
at the houin on wet market
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this is a human to human transmission
you're likely to get the infection from
a lovely human it is possible if you
live with a cat in the household in
close contact you can infect your
character there is absolutely no
indication on the cat and transfers
virus back to human cat or any other
animal at this point in time if you own
a pet and you test positive for the
virus or start showing symptoms the
recommendation is to limit contact with
your pet first if possible have another
member of your household care for your
animal while you are sick second avoid
contact with your pet
including stroking snuggling being
kissed or licked and sharing food third
if you have to care for your pet or be
around animals while you're sick wash
your hands before and after you interact
with them all confirmed cases of
coronavirus and animals showed a very
mild version of the disease fortunately
the big cats in New York's Bronx Zoo are
all on their way to recovery
but what about big cats in the wild if
the virus is thought to be able to
infect cats are there legitimate
concerns for the tigers and lions whose
populations have already been decreasing
for years due to hunting poaching and
habitat loss most important things and
that's what protects all cats in the
wild of course is that social distancing
is the norm with a large cat if you're
closer than six feet to a tiger or a
lion in the wild
you have other problems to worry about
when coronavirus I think that's really
important to understand that's why
there's no no fear of infecting animals
in the wild or you never acquiring the
virus from while playing your line
looking at all the facts we don't need
to worry that kovat 19 will harm cats
directly whether they're big or small
domesticated or wild and there's no
reason for humans to fear for the health
of their pets or worried about being
infected by them but whether we're
talking about contact with humans or
animals maintaining an appropriate
distance makes all the difference
watch out for our next video on the
challenge of protecting great apes
against kovat 19 because current safety
measures in national parks and
sanctuaries are giving rise to new and
potentially lethal threats
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