Tamil Nadu sets up task force to prevent Covid-19 in animals

After a lion and a lioness at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai succumbed to Covid-19, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday constituted a State Level Task Force to provide support and guidance to authorities about the prevention and mitigation of Covid-19 infections in wild and captive animals.

The task force will formulate ways to prevent Covid-19 infections among captive animals in tiger reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests.

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It will be headed by seasoned bureaucrat Supriya Sahu, Principal Secretary (Environment, Climate Change & Forests) and will have six members including the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, and Special Secretary (Forests), Environment, Climate Change & Forests Department.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Director, Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation, former IFS officer R Sundararaju, and Wildlife conservationist S. Theodore Baskaran are the other members of the team.

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“The task force shall have a close watch on disease surveillance, mapping and monitoring system, vaccination and other important associated departments and publish periodic reports,” a government statement said.