Zagreb: Zookeepers as well as lions infected with Covid are fine, an official said (File)
Zagreb:
Two lions at Zagreb Zoo have tested positive for COVID-19 they contracted from their owners, officials said Wednesday.
These are the first confirmed cases of the disease in zoo animals in Croatia, a Ministry of Agriculture statement said.
Lab tests on samples taken from the two animals after they developed symptoms of the disease confirmed they had COVID-19, it said.
The head of the zoo Damir Skok said that the big cats being treated by medical care were infected with the disease from their owners.
“The zookeeper as well as (lion) Leo and Ayana are fine. They occasionally sneeze and cough” and are recovering, he told local media.
Zoo visitors cannot catch coronavirus from lions because they are locked behind glass fences, he added.
Other animals in the care of the handler have also been tested for COVID-19 and the results of the tests will soon be ruled out.
In September, several US zoos, including the one in Washington, launched a campaign to vaccinate animals susceptible to COVID-19 after a bout of illness among them.
Croatia, the country with the lowest vaccination rate in Europe, is currently facing a record increase in coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic.
The respiratory illness has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people in this country of 4.2 million people.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
