Sheera is a resident of the Discovery Wildlife Park at Innisfail (Photo: Discovery Wildlife Park)

By Troy Gillard and Sheldon Spackman

Tiger in New York tests positive

Zookeeper says same measures keep big cats safe from COVID-19 as people

Apr 7, 2020 | 4:10 PM

A local zookeeper says their facility is using the same safety precautions around its animals as with people in a bid to keep them safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was learned on Monday that a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for COVID-19 in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S. or a tiger anywhere.

“We are limiting our crew who are coming into contact with our animals,” says Serena Bos with Discovery Wildlife Park at Innisfail. “Just like any care facility, whether it’s for humans or animals, we do have to be in close contact to be able to care for them. But we’re limiting those numbers.”

Bos says staff are ensuring that they’re not sneezing or coughing in the direction of their animals, that they are washing their hands regularly and that the gloves they use are being properly washed and sanitized.

“Very much the same precautions you would take for people, we’re taking with the animals,” she says.

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Bos has some advice for people thinking of abandoning their pets over fears of getting COVID-19 from them.

“Tigers and lions, the big cats that have contracted COVID-19, those are panther (family). Small cats are not and there is no proof at this time that housecats have the ability to get it,” she notes.

“The big thing I think people need to remember when they’re dealing with cats and dogs is they are still a surface. Allowing other people to pet your dogs, and then you pet them, that could put you at risk. But if you quarantine your pets, just like you quarantine yourself, they’re also safe and we don’t need to abandon our pets.”

Discovery Wildlife Park doesn’t open to visitors each year until May 1, so contact with the public hasn’t been an issue during the pandemic. Whether they open at all this year is obviously something that’s beyond their control.

“If they say we can open to the public we absolutely will as long as it’s safe to do so,” Bos explains. “It will have a drastic effect on us come May 1, though, because we are only open for five months out of the year. So we have to have that income support us 12 months out of the year. Having reduced or no income is definitely going to play a role on our business.”

Bos says they’re not sure at this time whether they qualify for any of the provincial or federal subsidy programs that have been announced.

She says anyone looking to support them while their doors are closed can do so through their Adopt an Animal program.