After tiger in US zoo tests positive for Covid-19, Hyd zoo amps up safety measures

File photo of

Nadia

, a 4-year-old female

Malayan tiger

at the Bronx Zoo, that the zoo said on April 5, 2020 has tested positive for coronavirus disease
Malayan tiger, Nadia of Bronx Zoo, New York, became the first wild animal known to test positive for coronavirus on Sunday. The authorities stated that they suspect the feline contacted it from its handler who was asymptomatic. The news has got animal lovers and zoo-keepers across the world very worried. And the

Central Zoo Authority

in India wasted no time in issuing guidelines to ensure animals in Indian zoos are safe.

Speaking to Hyderabad Times, N Kshitija, curator of Hyderabad’s

Nehru Zoological Park

, informed, “We received guidelines from the Central Zoo Authority this morning regarding the protocol to be maintained while taking take of tigers, monkeys and chimpanzees.”

Elaborating on the precautions already being taken to protect the animals against Covid-19, Kshitija adds, “We have been taking precautions since the first week of March itself. Various preventive measures are in place to keep the virus at bay.”
The

Hyderabad zoo

authorities have been spraying anti-viral liquid, sodium hypochlorite and bleaching powder on the zoo pathways and animal closure walls every alternative week, says the curator. Kshitija, however, reckons that the chances of Nadia in New York is expected to have passed to it from one of its handlers who was coronavirus positive but asymptomatic.

“In India, most zoos do not handle the animals directly, even the keepers maintain a safe distance from them, keeping
the risk of spreading coronavirus to a minimum,” she says. The Hyderabad Zoo authorities are taking special care of the staff and keepers to ensure what happened in New York doesn’t repeat here. “We are conducting thermal screenings for all the
employees. And we have also stocked up supplies of sanitisers and soaps and have mandated the staff to always wash hands and use masks while they’re in the zoo,” adds the curator.