Tamil Nadu: After lioness, 12-year-old Asiatic male lion dies of COVID-19 in Chennai zoo

A 12-year-old Asiatic male lion died of COVID-19 on Wednesday at the zoo near Chennai. This is the second such case reported from the same site in two weeks after nine-year-old 'Neela', a lioness died on June 3. The officials informed that the lion was being treated for the virus and was housed in the safari area of the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at suburban Vandalur. The lion was under critical treatment the past two weeks after the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal had sent a positive report of the animals on June 3.

In June, about eight Asiatic lions from Vandalur Zoo had tested positive for the Coronavirus. CM Stalin who is also the Chairperson of the Zoo Authority of Tamil Nadu had visited the Zoological Park to review the treatment being given to infected Lions. The medical officials treating these lions informed that animals are responding very slowly to the treatment, however, all efforts were being made by zoo veterinarians and experts from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University for their speedy recovery.

As preventive measures, the Vandalur Zoo is taking the help of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology which is an approved animal SARS CoV-2 centre to sequence this variant of the virus for a better understanding of transmission in animals.

COVID-19 cases in animals

Before lions in the Tamil Nadu zoo, a lion, named Tripur, living in Jaipur zoo had tested positive for Coronavirus in May. Prior to that, 8 Asiatic Lions at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad had tested positive for COVID-19 caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. A lion at the Etawah Safari Park had also tested positive and another was suspected to have caught the infection on May 8. 

After reports of Etawah Safari park, a zoo in Delhi had started taking precautionary measures by sending samples of few animals including lions for the COVID-19 test. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 cases in India are falling significantly, giving major relief to citizens and the healthcare system. However, when it comes to the question of how severe it is for animals to contract COVID, a CDC analysis dated March 23, 2021, has stated that some variants of the coronavirus that can infect the animals can spread to people and then eventually spread between humans. The authorities, at the same time noted that it is “rare.”

CDC also marked that this was the same path that SARS-CoV-2 followed as it is likely to be originated in bats as the early infections were linked to a live animal market in China’s Wuhan.

(With PTI inputs)