Call for screening captive wild animals for Covid-19

Zoo animals such as tigers and lions should be screened and tested for Covid-19 before the exercise is rolled out for other canines and felines, according to the city-based Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAHVB).

The institute intends to propose this plan at a meeting with the state’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) called by the medical education department on April 26.

On April 11, TAC suggested surveilling animals for Covid in collaboration with the IAHVB.

“During the first Covid wave, we had to survey sheep for Covid-19. In Tumakuru, there was a scare after a shepherd tested positive. Villagers kept the animals on the outskirts to contain the spread of the virus. We had tested them for SARS-CoV-2 then and none of them was positive,” said the institute’s director, Dr S M Byregowda, suggesting testing wild animals in captivity.

He recalled the start of the pandemic when pet parents abandoned cats presuming they were carrying the virus.

“Until then, cats may have had other coronaviruses, but not SARS-CoV-2. Test kits can easily differentiate between the two,” he said.

Better safe than sorry

Asked about plans for the screening of animals in Karnataka, he said, “Rather than assuming that there is a threat from animals, it is better to be alert and screen them. This will tell us about the incidence.”

He also suggested collecting nasal swabs and blood samples simultaneously in order to get an idea of past infections.

“Checking for antibodies in the serum will tell us about past exposure to the virus. We can start testing canine species in zoos and focus on captive animals in national parks and the Mysuru zoo. In Chennai, a lion died of suspected Covid. Mostly canine and feline species should be tested. In other animals, the incidence is less. In European countries, like in the Netherlands, the virus has been seen in mink,” he said.

According to Dr Byregowda, apart from SARS-CoV-2 spreading from mink to farmers, there have been no other reports of animal to human transmission. In the Netherlands, lakhs of minks were killed, according to him.

If an animal positive for the virus is handled by humans with bare hands, there are chances of contracting the virus via the secretions, he said.

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