OneHealth - Coronavirus Susceptibility Among Zoo Animals

Just because most of the country is focused on the presidential race, the protests in Kenosha, the fires in California, and the hurricanes down south (man, this year does stink...), don't think for a moment that our old buddy Coronavirus has moved on.   In the zoo community, most of the focus on COVID-19 has been from the economic perspective, as shut-down precautions have hurt our bottom lines.  

Let's not forget, though, what the virus is in and of itself.  It's a disease that sickens people, sometimes killing them.  And it's impact on non-human animals is still being understood.

Genomic Analysis Reveals Many Animal Species May be Vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 Infection

UC Davis has released a study that suggests that many mammals - including endangered species in zoos - may be vulnerable to the disease to varying degrees.  (Birds and reptiles so far appear to be of minimal concern in terms of transmission).  It's hard to say what we should be more worried about - animals in zoos or in the wild.  Yes, animals in zoos come into closer contact with humans more regularly, but each zoo only has a few of each species, making the disease unlikely to spread from, say, the gorillas at Zoo "A" to those in Zoo "B."  On the other hand, animals in the wild may be much less likely to get infected initially - but if they do, the risk of spread within the species may be far greater.

It's interesting to me how far down on the chart cats are, seeing as most of the cases we've heard the most about in zoos have been large felids.  Perhaps it's because great ape keepers were already using lots of PPE and safety protocols to keep themselves from passing their germs to primates, so COVID wasn't able to transmit as easily as it was to gorillas and orangutans.  For some reason I also expected elephants to be more susceptible to it... not that I'm complaining that they aren't, of course...

Whatever the case may be, I suspect that we will continue to learn more about how this novel Coronavirus impacts humans and animals alike as it continues its relentless spread.  I just worry about what form this learning experience might take...